The Olympian's Revenge
by MuseofComedy
Summary: Rose Bangash is a human stuck in a world of gods, myths and monsters. In a wild turn of events, she and her friends have been thrown right in the middle of a plot to overturn the Olympian gods. Now she is in a race against time to find a stolen artifact that may end up destroying the world. Will she make it in time, or crumble in the process?
1. Rose: I Grapple with Queens

ROSE

The last day of seventh grade turned out to really be a blast. It had everything: water balloons, liverwurst sandwiches of death, and even crazy Libyan queens. But, it was also the day my life changed forever. The day my eyes were opened and I'd never see the world the same way again.

My name is Rosaline Laila Bangash, but everyone calls me Rose. I had only turned 13 the March before the summer of 2002, where our story begins. It has been 12 years since then, but to be honest it's a miracle I've lasted this long. Now, with Gaea on the rise, the two camps at war and a possible Apocalypse hanging over our heads, I thought it would be good to share my stories. Just incase I die, I want someone to remember me. But mainly, I want you to remember my friends. Remember their stories, their fights and their dreams. Let them become legends, so that none of us can be forgotten.

So, as I was saying, the day my life changed forever started out like any other day. I got out of bed ten minutes before my alarm went off, like I always did. Waking up was pretty hard to do at 6:10, but it was a necessity. Wiping my eyes, I looked groggily around the room. It was a small room, with barely enough room for one bed and yet somehow fit a bunk bed. Potted plants sat on the floor and window, surrounded by video game magazines and comic books. Posters of bands like the Olympian Dropouts and movies like the Dark Knight covered most of the teal and grey striped walls. Most of this stuff wasn't even mine, but I endured it. I even read some of the comic books when I was bored. They weren't that bad, to be honest. I especially enjoyed the Sandman comics... but that's not important.

I had to get changed quietly so my brother, Nathan, could sleep the extra ten minutes. He always complained if I tried to wake him up earlier, then would throw a hissy fit for the rest of the day. So I quietly threw on a light pink t-shirt, white jean shorts and flip-flops. Walking down our staircase, I entered the two rooms that made up the main floor. It consisted of a rather tiny kitchen and a small TV area with one recliner and one beanbag chair. I entered the cheap white and black tiled kitchen to grab my breakfast of toast and yogurt. Nothing interesting so far today.

As I ate, Nathan decided to join the land of the living and say with me at the kitchen table. He ate frosted flakes out of the biggest bowl we owned and filled it to the top. And ate ALL of it. It was actually almost sickening to watch. But who was around to stop him when Dad was away?

My dad was studying in the Amazon for a month (he's a botanist), so it was just Nathan and I fending for ourselves. Which wouldn't have been so bad if Nathan ever got off his lazy butt to help around the house.

Nathan headed back upstairs to get changed while I stuffed a small bag with my lunch, my yearbook and some pens for people to sign it. When my brother came down, he was wearing a dark grey shirt with a fireball on it, black cargo pants and sneakers. I rolled my eyes, unsurprised with how completely opposite his clothing was to mine. But then again that was a good thing; it really pissed me off when twins wore similar outfits.

Since Nathan and I are fraternal twins, we aren't suppose to look alike, even though everyone says we do. Nathan is tall and boney, while I'm on the shorter and chubbier side. But I will say one thing for the crazy people who think we look similar; our coloring is almost exactly the same. Tan skin, curly black hair, golden eyes. Yes, I said golden eyes. Not brown or grey or the eyes of those idiots on the Internet who think their green eyes are gold. Actual, minted coin gold.

Since Nathan and I both agreed that talking in the morning before seven was a no-no, we walked out the front door in silence. As we stepped out of the screened front porch, I took one final look around. The porch was almost like a makeshift greenhouse; courtesy of our Dad. Still, a lot of these plants were really cool. Many came from tropical parts of the world, and a lot of them were rare or endangered. Some came from the Amazon, others from Africa, and many came from Vietnam or Thailand. But a lot were just normal old flowers Dad bought from the florist.

We lived on the outskirts of Atlantic City, right before you actually get on the island. It is a not-so suburban area and isn't exactly kid friendly. Or safe, for that matter. But this way Dad could actually buy a house with room for his plants, and still be close enough to the city to drive to his lab. Because of this, the bus that came for us was a public one, and not one of those yellow ones with the red stop sign. It was crowded with people from all walks of life. Woman and men in expensive suits or fast food uniforms. Kids who looked like they eat gold nuggets for breakfast, and kids just barely scraping by. Some kids I recognized from school, and some I didn't. You name it, they were there.

As we drove along, I watched as the suburbs were quickly morphed into a cityscape. Oddly shaped skyscrapers, brightly painted shops, and bright neon lights allowed Atlantic City to live up to its reputation. With the smell of sea salt in the air and not a cloud in the sky, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful morning.

"Do you think dad will make us go to that stupid summer camp again?" Nathan asked suddenly. I turned my attention from the window and onto my brother.

"Probably."

"But I actually wanna do something fun before eighth grade. Camp Wannabe is so... boring."

I snickered. "It's pronounced Camp 'Waunakee.'"

"I know what it is and I know what I said, Rose," Nathan rolled his eyes with a groan. I smiled.

Camp Waunakee kind of was a wannabe summer camp. With camp councilors who are mainly recovering drug addicts that just seem too perky. And games, like rope courses and archery, which would be fun if the camp actually had money for equipment. Since it's in central New Jersey, there is so much farmland surrounding the stretch of forest that the camp constantly smells like cow manure. I still think the worst are the brightly colored neon cabins that have rats living in the walls.

"I hate it there," Nathan murmured to himself.

"Yeah, I know; all you do is complain about it for the month leading up to summer and for the whole eight weeks we are there." I sighed, but I couldn't disagree with him. The camp really was awful. Dad only signed us up every year so we didn't have to be alone all summer while he worked. Since mom died when we were eight, it was hard on Dad as he tried to balance work time and kid time. But we understood. It was the only way to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads.

From there, the ride went surprisingly quick. It only took ten minutes to reach North Atlantic City School. The building looked like a rundown library, with stone columns that just seemed to try too hard. The stone stairs leading up were cracked and grim. Graffiti painted the once white walls. The courtyard was covered with trash and cigarette buds. Across the way was a small park that was used as the outside gym and track for the school.

Since North AC went from sixth to twelfth grade, it was hard to not be intimidated by the older kids. They were always standing in the courtyard looking grim and snuffing out their cigarettes whenever a teacher walked by. So they littered the courtyard too, their eyes scanning the crowd of kids getting off the bus, no doubt looking for a weak link to prey upon.

I walked hurriedly up the stairs, with Nathan glued to my side. He had enough sense to keep his hand in his back pocket where his wallet was. A lot of the kids at North Atlantic were poor enough to steal from poor kids. And some were rich enough to think stealing was a fun game or prank. But luckily, we made it inside with no trouble. Apparently, no one bothered to mess with the seventh graders on the last day of school.

Inside wasn't as nice as outside, which was really saying something. The school colors, blue and white, lined the walls. All the lockers were blue but red with rust. The smell of marijuana and feces radiated out of the bathrooms. And the hallways were always coated in a fog of Axe body spray. Kids pushed and shoved to get to their classrooms; the school wasn't made to fit seven grades. The younger kids walked very fast, while the high schoolers walked like they weren't in any rush. This made it rather hard to walk, since they seemed to enjoy not only walking slowly, but doing so in a line across the hallway.

I pushed passed them and hurried to my homeroom. Nathan went quickly upstairs to his. I had to go downstairs to the basement, but at least it wasn't crowded there. Getting inside, I closed the door quickly behind me and found a desk to sit in. Room 216A was pretty large for a history room. With a fully stocked mini library on one wall and a podium on the other, it could fit about forth students. In my homeroom, every desk was usually filled. Not today though. Today, every kid was either standing or sitting on top of a desk. Everyone was a seventh grader in my homeroom, so no one was too rowdy. I found a seat next to my two best friends, Justin Holt and Allesandra Coulson. As soon as I sat down, they shoved their yearbooks in my face.

Even though I'd known both of them for most of my life, I signed their yearbooks as most seventh graders did: with a sweet note about how much fun we had this year, then a "HAGS!" at the end. Satisfied, they stuffed their books back in their backpacks.

"So..." Justin started off. "Any plans-"

"For the summer?" Sandy finished.

"Yeah, for that," Justin grumbled, annoyed as usual when Sandy finished his sentences.

"You guys know what I'm doing this summer. Camp Waunakee as usual," I sighed. Just talking about the place got me down.

"Awww, but Rose! I wanted us to all go to the beach together like we always talked about!" Sandy complained. I honestly don't think I've ever met someone who loved the beach more then Sandy. Her dad owned a beach house at the Jersey Shore just so Sandy could spend the whole summer there. Even though we could just take a taxi to the beach whenever we wanted; it was literally on the edge of Atlantic City.

"Yeah, I know. I could use a beach day, too," I sighed. "But no. It's going to be all cow pastures and camp woods for me."

"I'll go to the beach with you," Justin added, pushing his curly hair out of his eyes. It was so obvious he liked Sandy, it actually hurt. But Sandy made it clear to me at sleepovers that she just wasn't into him that way. She didn't want to put him down for fear of loosing one of her best friends. But all the same, it broke my heart to see him stumbling over her like this.

See, Justin wasn't exactly the best looking guy, but he had the personality of a puppy. He wasn't tall, and most of him was just skin and bones. Sloppy black hair covered his acne-covered face, and braces obscured his yellowish teeth. His grey eyes were always alight with excitement, especially when Sandy was around. He always had an encouraging word to say no matter what, and his constant energy really made him seem like he was part dog.

That's why I always thought he and Sandy would do well together. She had ADHD, so obviously she was always bubbling over with adrenaline. She was always witty, and clumsy, so she was great for a laugh. Her chubby, short body was even shorter then Justin's, so it worked very well. And her curly blonde hair was such a great contrast to his straight and black that it just had to work.

But it didn't. At least, not for Sandy.

So we sat there, discussing our summer plans and hopes, until our homeroom teacher Mr. Daring announced it was time to start field day. We headed outside in a not-so-orderly mob of yelling and whooping children. We walked across the busy street to the park, where water games were set up. Four other homeroom classes came out, while the rest of the teams were doing games inside. The games were only for sixth, seventh and eighth graders, but high school volunteers were aloud to help out. The high schoolers all wore red shirts that said "Target Practice Team," which meant they could also peg us with water balloons if anyone got too rowdy. Most people only volunteered for this reason; apparently it was considered fun to harass kids much younger and weaker then them.

Two of the upperclassmen, one boy and one girl, came over to our team, with the word "Daring" across the backs of their shirts. They were in charge of us for the day while Mr. Daring watched on the bench with the other teachers.

"Alright, kids. Listen up," said the girl. "My name is Danny and this is Chad. We're your counselors for today." Danny wore Oakley sunglasses and black shorts. Her purple flip-flops only matched the sleeveless gloves she wore. Dark brown hair laid flat around a fairly tan face. She was short and broad, but in a muscular kind of way. Her arms were even a bit ripped. I'm pretty sure I'd only seen her once, when I noticed her sleeping during lunch with her face in the Mac and cheese. Her friends did nothing to remove her.

Chad just grunted and swiped his blonde hair to the side. He was tall and buff to the possibility that he was on steroids. His cargo pants only made him look like he was from the marines. I recognized him as a senior from the football team and assumed he was only here to pelt us.

We spent half the day playing water games consisting of water balloons, water guns and wet sponges. By the time we went inside for indie games, my clothes were ruined. My shoes were soggy in my flip-flops, and my shirt stuck to my body. I hated being in wet clothes. When I went to find Sandy, I was shocked to see she was bone dry. Justin was already asking her about it.

"But... but..." He stuttered.

"I told you, I guess I just never got hit," Sandy stated confidently.

"But I was so sure I..." Justin trailed off, muttering something under his breath.

I decided to cut in "It doesn't matter. Let's just get some lunch and finish up this day." We followed Mr. Daring, Chad and Danny inside.

Once we made it to the lunchroom, I spotted Nathan within seconds. He was eating lunch with Jacob, Gordon, Matt and Arnold (his weird nerd friends). I grabbed a seat at the table closest to him, and Sandy followed. Oddly enough, I didn't see Justin anywhere. He walked up with us, then disappeared before we got to the lunchroom. I decided he went to the bathroom.

"I'm starved," Sandy announced to the group, pulling out a paper bag. Inside was a liverwurst sandwich, and I had to restrain myself from gagging. Not only was I a vegetarian (but I usually didn't care if people ate meat in front of me), but it smelt like it was a week old and rotting. But I'm pretty sure that's just what liverwurst smelt like. I settled for a peanut butter and jelly. Halfway through, Sandy announced to us she needed to go to the bathroom. To this day, I'm not sure if I regret saying "I'll go with you" or not. We headed into the hallway together. After we... did our business there, we left and headed for the cafeteria. We walked passed the gym and the smell hit me like a brick wall. A mix between rotting flesh, feces and blood. Basically smelt like a big bottle of liquid death.

Sandy plugged her nose. "What in God's name is that?"

"Not God's name, dear one," a hissing voice said, coming from inside the gym doors. "The gods' names. There are many, many of them." The voice was cold as ice and ancient. Every instinct in my body told me to run.

Apparently Sandy had a different instinct. She pushed the doors open of the gym and walked inside. I hated myself for it later, but I followed. Inside, a tall woman stood dressed in black jeans and a strange black sweatshirt that had sleeves much too big for her. Around her waist she wore a snakeskin like a belt. Her pale skin was almost white, and her bronze hair rolled over her shoulders like liquid metal. Her ruby eyes were surrounded by charcoal, accenting them to the point that they glowed. I had to say, she very pretty. Except for the smell.

I glanced around, trying to find the source of the smell. Apparently, it was just the woman. She must have been wearing the new designer perfume: Kiss of Death. I cringed.

Until Sandy screamed, I didn't notice the boy laying unconscious on the floor. I glanced at her, but tears were running down her face.

"You... you killed Justin."

The woman shrugged. "He walked in while I waited. I was hungry and decided on a snack."

I stared at her in horror, but couldn't comprehend. Michael didn't have a scratch on him; he looked fine. There was a sudden change around the two figures. It was only a split second, but I caught it.

Justin's chest had been ripped to shreds, his blood staining the floor. His shirt was sliced to pieces on the floor, and a large bite mark was very visible on his neck. His backpack somehow was still on him, but it was quickly turning crimson from blood. And the woman... I wanted to shrink up inside when I saw her. Blood stained her mouth and neck. Two razor sharp fangs produced from her mouth and went down to her chin. Long talon-like claws almost reached the floor. What I though was the sleeves of her jacket were really leather wings.

Then the image was gone. It was just Michael on the floor and a normal woman over him. I felt like I was gonna faint; was I going crazy?

"D-did you see that?" I whispered. "The... the fangs and... blood." Years rolled down my cheeks and, even though I could no longer see the blood, I refused to take my eyes off my limp friend's body.

Sandy nodded. By the look on her face I thought she may still be seeing it. I couldn't be sure. When she spoke, her words were soft and broken. "Who are you?"

The woman laughed so cruelly, my skin crawled. "I am Lamia, dear child."

Lamia... that name sounded so familiar... The only thing that came to mind was English class. We had a rather large unit in sixth grade about Greek mythology. Lamia was one of the stories we learned. Something about Scylla and children... But it couldn't be right. Those were just stories. Legends to scare children at night. Greek myths weren't real. I remembered the image I saw just moments before, and I could no longer convince myself.

"You're the mother of Scylla. That monster in the cliffs."

The woman cringed at the word 'monster.' "Yes, and many others."

"Hera..." The part about children hit me like a is. "Hera took your children and... you eat kids now."

Lamia rolled her eyes. "You don't need to tell me what I already know. But yes, that's me. Nice to be recognized every once in a while." She inched closer, sniffing the air between us like a wild dog. "Hmmm, the human smells of flowers. But the Half blood smells of fresh meat and... liverwurst? Gods, even I don't eat that. None the less, you both will make excellent snacks."

She lunged. A flash of metal sailed over our heads with a whoosh. It smacked the vampire in the stomach with a sickening crunch, then zoomed back over us like a boomerang. Lamia skidded a few feet back on her but, a bit dazed.

"Sorry, seventh grader isn't on the menu today," a voice from behind said. I turned to see Danny holding a trashcan lid like a shield (which I assumed was the thing that flew over our heads). In her other hand, she had a death grip on a wooden mop. Chad the football player stood next to her, holding a baseball bat like a sword. His face was hard, and his eyes were murderous.

"Here," Danny tossed Sandy a kitchen knife. "Incase you need to protect your friend here."

Another twitch in the air, and I saw the vampire Queen again. But I also saw the trashcan as a circular bronze shield, with the head of a Rottweiler carved in the front. The mop was actually a bronze spear, and the kitchen knife now looked like a proper bronze dagger. The baseball bat was suddenly a bronze sword that glowed a dim red. Then everything went back to normal.

Believe me, there was no doubt in my mind that I was loosing it. This was all just some crazy dream, or I was a schizophrenic, or I got hit too hard in the head during water balloon time. I was never one for magic. I had always been a girl of science, mainly because of my dad. Hell, I never even believed in capital 'G' God. So, to me, there had to be some logical explanation for what I was watching unfold. I couldn't think of any.

Sandy and I watched as Danny and Chad slashed and poked, rolling and dodging what I remembered were her big invisible talons. Once, Chad slipped on what was probably the blood I could no longer see. When he stood up, it appeared again and covered his face in red.

"W-we have to get Justin out of here," I whispered to Sandy. She gave me a sideways look, then nodded. Holding up her kitchen knife like a knight would a sword, we charged together.

At first, Lamia was too preoccupied to notice us. With two kids poking at her with sticks and baseball bats, she didn't seem interested in us anymore. When we reached Justin, I wasn't sure what to do. The images flickered again, and I could see him as he was. His black hair was stuck to his face as the blood dried. His eyes were rolled back into his head. Blood poured from the slash wounds on his stomach. He was shaking like crazy, and his breathing was tagged and weak, but he was alive. Then reality flashed back in and all I saw was Justin shaking in a coma.

"What do we do?" Sandy asked.

"Call 9-11?"

"I don't know how we'll explain him getting hurt. 'Oh, our friend was eaten alive by a crazy vampire demon who prays on children.'"

"Well, what's your idea?"

Sandy sat there, staring at him. She grabbed the torn pieces of his shirt and began tying them tightly around him. When I assumed all the wounds were covered, Sandy began putting pressure on them by leaning most of her body weight onto her hands.

I didn't see Lamia until the last second. She lunged from nowhere, fangs clashing and invisible talons raised. I had just enough time to push Sandy out of the way. There was a clank as she dropped her dagger, but it was too late anyways. The vampire grabbed me and Justin, and in a whirl of darkness, we were gone. I struggled against the vampire Queen, trying to keep her gnashing fangs as far away as possible. We tumbled and turned in the darkness. With one hand, I kept the vampire Queen away. With the other, I held Justin tightly in my arms.

When the darkness dispersed, I had no idea where I was. Certainly not in the gym any more. Not even in Atlantic City. Now miles and miles of evergreen forests surrounded us.

Now the vampire stepped away and looked at me angrily. "W-what happened?" I stammered. "What did you do?"

"Shadow traveled," the Vampire hissed. "We are somewhere in Canada at the moment. But it seems I have grabbed the wrong child. My orders were to kill the Half Blood. But I can suffice with killing you. Food is food; I can't afford to be picky."

She lunged again, but this time I was ready. I'm not sure how, but Sandy's knife had traveled with us. I grabbed it and slashed it across her pretty face. Lamia screamed, and shadows began to swirl around her. I grabbed Justin and jumped on Lamia, just as she "shadow traveled" again. We tumbled and kicked in total darkness. I thought I was going to hurl, and it felt like my life force was being drained out of me but the shadows themselves.

When we landed again, I didn't wait. I thrusted the knife as hard as I could through the monster's heart. Lamia hissed and squealed, trying to buck me off. One last time I saw the flicker of a woman with long sharp fangs, cold eyes, bat wings and long talons. Then she exploded in a cloud of gold dust.

I wheezed and coughed, trying to get evaporated demon out of my lungs. Then I collapsed and began to heave. Nothing came out, but my head was too sick to care. Note to self: never, EVER shadow travel again. As soon as I could, I crawled over to Justin and collapsed next to his limp body.

I looked around, wondering where I was. My vision was fading quickly, but I still had enough time to try to figure out how far from home I was. We were inside, and the walls were either dark grey or black. Black marble columns stood on either side of the walls. My vision became shaky, and my last thought was, "Am I dying? Dad would kill me if I died." And then everything went black.


	2. Sandy: We Become Puppy Chow

SANDY

What? Wow, Rose is a pretty fast writer. So... my turn then? Well... for starters, I'm Sandy Marie Couslon. And at this moment, cowering in the Big House basement waiting for impending doom, I am really, really hoping the world doesn't end and there are people left to actually read this. Right, but you don't care about the present I suppose. Here's where we left off:

One minute, they were there. Sure, Justin was dying and Rose was going haywire. But they were there. And then, in a flash of leather wings and black smoke, they were gone. I had no idea what to do or what the hell happened. I sat there for... maybe five minutes. Just staring in shock at the place my two best friends once were. Until I felt a hand on my shoulder, I had forgotten about the world.

I looked up to see Danny, watching me sadly from under her Oakley sunglasses. I barely noticed her sword and shield had disappeared. She held out her hand and I took it. Together, I somehow stood up. The shaking in my legs was terrible now. My vision was even shakier. I could barely get the words out when I asked, "Where did they go?"

Danny just shook her head. "Beats me, kid. Lamia must have shadow traveled. They could be anywhere right now."

"But... are they okay? Are they alive?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know. Humans don't usually survive shadow travel, but it's not unheard of that they can make it. I'm sorry. Come on, let's get out of here before the cops come."

I don't remember walking out of the gym. I don't remember standing outside and waiting for Chad to pull a car around. All I remember is when I finally snapped out of it.

"We can't leave yet," I said, and I was surprised by the strength in my voice.

Danny looked up. "Why not?"

"I need to find Nathan. I need to tell him what happened to his sister."

Danny frowned. "That girl wasn't like us. We aren't allowed to just tell humans about monsters."

"Well I don't know who 'we' is, but it certainly isn't 'me.' Rose was my best friend, and Nathan deserves to know the truth."

Chad was now pulling up in a large white van with strawberries painted on the side. He rolled down the window and asked what was going on.

"Allesandra doesn't want to leave yet," Danny said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Don't call me that. My name is Sandy. And I'm not going anywhere with you people until I find Nathan."

Danny rolled her eyes, but Chad just frowned. "Well go on," he said. "Go grab this Nathan of yours and we can fill you both in on the way."

I nodded and ran inside as fast as I could. By now, lunch had ended and Nathan was probably headed to the gym for the indoor games. Hopefully the claw marks on the floor and the bloodstains won't be enough that the school calls the police. I found Nathan just as he entered the gym. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him as fast as I could towards the front doors. He struggled and refused, but I didn't let go.

I threw him in the van, closed the door behind me, and buckled myself in.

"Alright. We're here. Now where are we going?" I asked. I know it's stupid to get in vans with people you don't know, but these two kids just tried to save my life. I decided it was okay to at least trust them a little.

"A little place called Camp Half-Blood. It's a bit of a drive from here, on Long Island. But this can is fast. We should be there in no time."

"Why am I here, Sandy?" Nathan asked impatiently. "I was really looking forward to capture the flag."

I didn't want to be the one to tell him. I couldn't be. I couldn't even get the words out of my mouth. I just stared at him, and suddenly my eyes welled up with thick tears. "Y-you tell him, D-Danny," I whispered shakily.

"Right. Your sister was... taken."

"Taken?"

"Yeah. By a vampire."

Nathan stared at her, his harsh golden eyes scanning her face for any sign of humor. Then he laughed. He laughed, and laughed. It was so high pitched and cheerful, even I wanted to join him. "A vampire? Is this some kind of joke?"

"Don't be your usual jackass self, Nathan," I said, punching him in the arm. "She's serious. I saw the whole thing. Justin and Rose just disappeared. We don't know where they are or if they are even alive. Please don't think we are crazy."

Nathan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, still chuckling to himself. "Sure, let's say I believe you. Why would a vampire be at our school? How would he even get in?"

"The vampire was a 'she,' not a dude," Chad said from the drivers seat. "And she was after Allesan- I mean Sandy."

I looked up, and my heart skipped a best. "Me? Why?"

Chad shrugged. "Not sure of the specifics, but monsters are attracted to us, you see. I mean, besides my devilish good looks, monsters really like scent of demigods. It's like we are wearing their favorite bacon-smelling perfume."

I growled. I was so frustrated I wanted to explode. Putting an angry ADHD girl in a confined space was NOT a good idea. "Why am I not getting a straight answer here?" I fumed. "What is going on?"

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know. Where is my sister really? Is she in the back of the van, ready to pop out at me or something stupid like that?" Nathan chimed. His stupid brain wasn't making it any easier to calm down.

"Gods, you two are annoying," Danny grumbled to herself. "Alright, I'll start at the beginning. I'm assuming you all know about the Greek gods?"

Nathan yawned. "Oh, not them again. We had a unit on them in sixth grade. Boooring!"

"Don't let them here you say that," Chad said, pointing upwards when he said 'them.'

Danny nodded. "They can be hotheads when they wanna be. As I was saying, the gods of Ancient Greece are real. And very much alive."

"Very horny, too," Chad added.

Danny rolled her eyes. "That, too. Every so often, a god comes to earth to, uh... mate with the natives."

"They have kids with humans," Chad summed up. "Those kids are called half-bloods, or demigods. They are stronger then average humans, but also in a lot more danger."

"See, just as the gods are real, Greek monsters are real too."

I nodded. "I got that when I met the Demon Queen of Libya."

"And those monsters," Danny continued, "like to snack on demigods. We're their favorite junk food. So half-bloods die; a lot. Which is why we go to Camp Half-Blood, so we can train and hopefully not die."

Nathan suddenly seemed interested. "Alright, so your the child of a god, like Perseus and Hercules were?"

"Yup," Chad answered. "I'm the kid of Apollo, and Ms. Loudmouth over there is the daughter of Morpheus."

"Never heard of him," Nathan said.

Danny sighed. "Most humans never do. He's the god of sleep and dreams. He's not an Olympian, so a lot of times he is forgotten."

Nathan sat there thinking. "So... who's my godly parent?"

Danny's slight smile faded. "No one. We didn't bring you along because you're a half blood. You're human. We brought you along to explain that your sister is..."

"Most likely dead," Chad concluded.

"Oh..." Nathan went quiet, mulling this over in his mind. "I-I don't think I believe you. What's your proof?"

Everyone went quiet for a while. We didn't have proof. How could we prove his sister was kidnapped in a puff of all purpose demon shadow? Somehow, the silence made him snap. Tears streamed down his face as he pulled his knees into his chest, rocking back and fourth. I leaned in and tried to hug him, but he swatted my arm away. Watching Nathan sitting there, crying over his sister, I didn't know what to do. So I cried to. I cried for Rose, and for Justin. Oh gods, I had been so unfair to Justin. I really did like the big dope, but I was too embarrassed to tell Rose that. And now I would never see either of them again. The friends I had known since kindergarten. The ones I went to movies, amusement parks, parties, as Christmas dinners with. The ones I'll never be able to take to my beach house with me like I planned.

Danny frowned, but didn't say anything encouraging. "Calm down, you too. I said there is a possibility they're alive. I just need to-" Half way through her sentence, her eyes slammed shut and she slumped over in her seat. A slight snore was produced from her nose.

"Does she normally do that?" I asked, wiping my eyes with the back of my arm.

Chad shrugged. "Narcolepsy is a common side effect of being a child of Morpheus." He chuckled, then continued. "Other side effects may include drowsiness, dreams full of nightmares and fear of sudden death by sleep demons. Consult your doctor with concerns."

"Sleep demons?"

"It's a thing."

Much of the three hour drive to Camp Half-Blood was quiet. The only sound was Chad playing the radio quietly and the steady breathing of Danny. Only when three giant German Shepherds started chasing the van did things get loud. They were as big as horses, maybe bigger. Dark clouds of smoke (which I'd had enough of for one life time) billowed around them like storms. Their black skin had a red tinge to it, making them look like embers from a fire.

And they chased after us at an extremely fast pace.

"Uh, Chad? Looks like somebody let the dogs out," I said, my heart beating too fast in my chest.

"Wha-?" he checked the rearview mirror, then shoved Danny awake. "Don't fall asleep again, girl. It's show time."

Danny looked around groggily, confused at what was happening but becoming more alert by the second. "What hat have we got?"

"Three Hellhounds going about 45 miles an hour. They're a bit of a ways back but gaining quickly," Chad reported like he was a soldier in the army. Maybe that's what this camp was; a place for soldiers to prepare for war.

"How far are we from camp?"

"At this rate? About 15 minutes."

"Cut that in half. I'll distract the overgrown hair balls." Without another word, she took a shot gun out from the glove compartment and opened the sun roof. Now Chad was going double the speed he was before, but it didn't seem to bother Danny. She stood right up and took aim at one of the hounds.

A loud bang, and a miss. The dogs kept coming, at an even faster pace then before. She reloaded, then fired again. This time it was a direct hit. One dog dropped, then exploded in a cloud of gold dust. I thanked God we were on a back road away from traffic. God... I meant gods. I guess I'm not so easily convinced on this matter as I thought.

"Great shot!" Chad yelled, but the whistling from the wind made it hard to hear. She sat back down and shuffled through the glove compartment, possibly looking for more bullets.

"That's it. That's all the amo I have," Danny announced as she closed the sun roof. "Just keep driving and pray to the gods these dogs get tired."

I couldn't take my eyes off the large dogs bolting after us. These things were going to kill us; I knew it. I was going to die before I even reached camp. Before I could ever find out if my friends are still alive. Before I could even say goodbye to my dad. And then Chad slammed on the breaks. We were at the bottom of a hill, with a large tree sitting alone at the top.

"Everyone out. We're making a run for it!" Chad yelled. I threw the door open, and didn't wait and see if Nathan did the same. I hopped down and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Somehow, Chad was already in front of my, followed by Danny. I prayed Nathan wasn't far behind; he was never a good runner and his asthma would not be helping in this situation.

I followed them into the tree line, when they suddenly stopped running. "Why did we stop?" I said, slowing down as I reached them and gasping for breath.

"We're beyond the border now. They can't reach us over here," Chad said, barely out of breath.

Then I saw him. Nathan was just outside the tree line, banging on air. His fist was stopping, like he was hitting glass. A look of pure terror was stuck to his face as he tried to break trough something that wasn't there. "Oh jeeze. What's the kid's last name?"

"Bangdash, but-" I couldn't finish. Danny was already running back to the tree line. The dogs were already on top of him. One scratched his back with its long claws, and Nathan let out a terrified scream.

When Danny reached him, she yelled, "I- Danielle Kalani Iona- give you - Nathan Bangdash- permission to enter Camp Half-Blood." Suddenly, the glass was gone. Nathan fell forward and landed in a smoking heap. The dogs growled in frustration, but turned and left. His clothes were tattered and blood was soaking his back, but he was alive. We all were.

"Well, Chad can carry you to the healers. And then we'll give you the grand tour," Danny says, an exhausted smile spreading on her face. "But first, I think I need a nap."

I was sent to Cabin 11 to drop off what little things I had (basically my backpack, a pair of clothes in case I got wet and my yearbook). According to the Cabin leader there, it was where all the children of Hermes crashed.

"And since Hermes is the god of travelers, we take in all campers without a home," a young kid by the name of Luke answered.

So this was going to be my home away from home for the summer. Until my godly parent claimed me, I was stuck in the cabin of cramped people, trash covered floors and not-enough-bunk beds. Apparently Hermes was also the god of slobs.

"So," one unclaimed kids asked. "Boy or girl?"

I was sitting on the floor in the little space I could find, and the boys voice startled me. He was hanging from the top of a bun bed, smiling at me. "Uh... excuse me?"

"Is your earthly parent a boy or girl?"

"Boy. I have a dad." I sighed, leaning my head against the wooden walls of the cabin. My extremely curly blonde hair hung in my face no matter how many times I tried to tuck it behind my ears, so I decided to put it up in a ponytail.

"Alright," the kids said. "I have a mom. A lot of kids here think it's Demeter, since I grew up on a farm. But she just won't claim me. Really makes a kid feel unwanted, ya know?"

I shrugged. "I can imagine. How long have you been here for?"

"Almost a year now."

I had to suppress a groan. I could be stuck in this rank cabin for a long time. Just the thought of being surrounded by all these germs made my skin crawl. I was kind of a germiphobe.

"My name is Lewis, what's yours?"

"Sandy."

His devilish smile grew bigger. "With a name like Sandy, maybe your a daughter of Poseidon. Only the sea god would name their kid something stu-" I was about to punch this kid when another camper piped up.

"Don't get her hopes up. You know children of Poseidon don't exist."

I decided not to ask. Just when I was getting claustrophobic, there was a knock at the door. The head councilor answered, and a grin grew on his face.

"Well, well. If it isn't Danielle Lancaster. Haven't seen you since last summer. Come to drop off your stuff, too?"

"I already did, Marcus. I'm here for Sandy Coulson," I could tell Danny didn't like this kid. It was made clear to me she hates 'Danielle,' so I would probably hate anyone who called me by my full name, too.

"Right. You want the new meat. Come here, Ms Allesandra. You have a visitor." Right. I hate him, too. I got up and stepped around people until I got to the door. I can't tell you how thankful I was to get out of that demigod deathtrap. I followed Danny out the door.

She was dressed differently before (but then again so was I). She wore torn grey jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket. She wore two necklaces: one had three different beads on a rope, the other was a metal dream catcher. Her purple gloves were still on, but instead of the red camp shirt she had, now it was orange and said Camp Half-Blood. A little black Pegasus sat below the black writing. I wore the same shirt, but I also wore white shorts and gladiator-style sandals. I was given a blank rope to wear around my neck.

"Why do you sleep in Cabin 11, too? I thought you knew who your dad was."

Danny gave an exasperated sigh, and I hoped she wasn't made at me. "I do. But there isn't a cabin here for Morpheus. Only the twelve Olympian gods, plus Hades, get cabins. So I'm stuck there for the rest of my days."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, well... pray your parent is a Major god, kid. It sucks being one of the Minors," the hurt in her voice told me everything. It was easy to assume people looked down on Minor kids here. I promised myself that, if I was a child of the 12, I would never look down on a Minor.

I followed her up a grassy hill to a large white wooden house.

The sun was low in the sky, casting beautiful colors across the camp. It was hard to rewire my brain into thinking that ball of gas burning millions of light years away was actually the father of Chad, the strawberry van driving football player. I tried not to wrap my head around the concept.

"Nathan should be up soon, but for now you need to meet Chiron and Mr. D," Danny announced.

"When do I find out if my friends are okay?"

Danny stopped. "Uh... I had a dream about them during my nap."

"And?"

"It looked like they were alive, but they were unconscious. And inside, so I couldn't tell where they were. But at least they're in one piece, right?"

"Right," I said, but my heart was falling. How could she tell the difference between unconscious and dead in a dream? And on that note, how did she SEE them in a dream in the first place? Sure, I've had my share of dreams that came true, but they happened maybe every other year. But I kept my mouth shut, because maybe I was being to harsh. Maybe I should take any ounce of hope I'm given that my two best friends aren't dead.

We reached the Big House pretty quickly. Let me say, Mr. D and Chiron weren't exactly what I expected. Sure, Rose had told me about Chiron when she went into her Ancient Greek faze back in sixth grade. I knew he was a famous immortal centaur who trained heroes before I got up there. Thing is, I didn't realize he was THAT Chiron. So when I saw a bearded man with a white stallion body, I just about wet myself (don't worry, I didn't. Germaphobe, remember?).

And Mr. D was something to behold all by himself. I was told ahead of time that "D" was for Dionysus, but this was not what I expected the god of parties and alcohol to look like. A chubby man in a Hawaiian shirt and kaki shorts, and drinking a can of... was that coke? Again, not my image of a god.

When Danny saw him, she had to force back a sneer. Apparently, she's native Hawaiian, and I don't think she appreciated his fashion sense.

"Oh, joy. Danielle is back from her errands," Mr. D said, taking a casual sip from his coke. She cringed at the sound of her name.

"You said you wanted to see her," Danny said, straightening her jacket.

Mr. D waved her away like a fly. "Yeah, yeah. Haveta meet all new campers and all that bullshit." Chiron shot him a glance. "Oh, sorry. 'Bullcrap.'" he sighed, and muttered, "I can't drink, I can't curse..."

The centaur extended his hand. I took it and we shook. "I'm Chiron, the camp councilor here. It's nice to meet you, my dear."

"It's an honor to meet the trainer of heroes, sir." Did I always sound like this much of a brown noser? I would need to work on that.

"I heard Danielle and Chad went through much trouble to get you and your human friend."

"More trouble then it's worth, if you ask me," Mr. D chimed in.

I twitched at the mention of Nathan. "Is Nathan alright? Can I see him yet?"

"No, I'm afraid he's still resting. Will probably miss the bonfire tonight, but he's alright," Chiron said. Then, out of nowhere, he asked, "Would you like to use the phone? To call your father, perhaps?"

"I was told phones weren't aloud."

"That's true for cellphones, but I have a home line you can use," Chiron winked at me. "It's just inside, hanging on the wall."

I opened the cabin door and walked in. Inside was a small living room with a fireplace (I tried to ignore the jaguar head hanging above it). The walls were covered with pictures of kids in Greek armor. Smiling, crying, laughing, angry. All the pictures were different. Many were in black and white; some looked like they were from the civil war times. Only a few stood out in color.

Next to a picture of a kid holding some sort of large tooth hung the phone. I grabbed it, and my first instinct was to call my friends. But neither of them had cellphones. So, grudgingly, I called my father.

See, my dad was Arthur Coulson. He rented real-estate on the beach for a living. Lots of fancy houses; most of them like mansions. And all of them were ours. We weren't famous, but we certainly were rich. And, some how, my dad had made all of his original money from owning a fishing company.

I didn't like to talk to my dad. He always talked down to me, like I was a small child. We didn't really have anything in common; except for our love of beaches. It was to the point that I doubted he would even notice if I just spent the whole summer at camp. But I called him nonetheless. Like a good daughter.

It took four rings, but someone finally picked up. "Coulson residence, this is Minnie speaking." I had to stop myself from groaning. It was my stepmom. A gold digger who married my dad two years ago and has not said a nice word to me since.

"Hi Minnie, it's... Allesandra. Is my dad there?"

"Oh, it's just you. Sure, I'll see if Arthur wants to talk."

"Just get him."

There was a ruffling on the other end, then a deeper voice picked up. "Sandy? Are you alright. I heard there was something going down at your school."

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine. I was just calling to tell you that I'm staying at a camp this summer. I hope that's ok."

There was a pause. "Oh, sure. Go ahead. Have fun. I just... I thought we were going to Europe this summer together."

Oh, great. I forgot about our family vacation. It's not like I wanted to go, especially with Minnie there, but it was the only time I got to spend with my dad. "Yeah, I know. It's just... things have changed a bit."

"That's fine. I'll just call and cancel. Is that all you needed?"

I was about to say goodbye when I did remember something. "Dad... what was Mom's name?"

Dead silence. It took him a while, but he finally said, "Amy. She said it was a nickname, but she never told me it full."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye." *Click*

Very loving conversation, as usual. I walked out the front doors, to find only Danny waiting. Mr. D and Chiron were gone.

"Come on, it's time for dinner. You wouldn't want to miss your fist Half-Blood bonfire."


	3. Justin: Skeletons in Lamia's closet

JUSTIN

Well, Sandy just passed me the notebook so I guess it's my turn. Though, I don't really know why you guys want to hear my story. I mean, what's the point to this again? If Gaia wakes up, then we're all fried either way. Oh well, I'll just get it over with.

When I woke up, I felt like a train had slammed into my ribs. It was hard to move, and I thought it was just me until I realized how heavily bandaged my entire upper body was. Blood stained the bandages, but the pressure was keeping the ruby liquid at bay.

I looked around, which didn't really help since I had no idea where I was. It was dark; very dark. I was surrounded by black, actually. The only light came from three torches stuck into the nearby wall. I was laying on the cold floor, with my backpack tucked underneath my head like a pillow. My rain jacket was laid over my like a blanket.

"Where am I?" I managed to ask, though to whom I was not sure. I didn't see anyone in the room except for a few rats sleeping on the floor.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure where we are," a familiar voice called from the darkness under the stone doorway. Rose stepped out of the shadows, except she looked different. Her face was covered with soot and golden sparkles. Blood covered much of her pink shirt, and her black hair was knotted and hastily tied up in a ponytail. At her side was a bronze dagger, tucked into the belt of her pants. "And I can't find a way out, either."

She walked over to him and smiled. "I'm glad you're finally awake. For a while I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Well then I'm glad I'm awake, too. What happened to me? And how did we get here? Last thing I remember was looking for Coach Charleston in the gym."

Rose told me everything. As she talked, the images of Lamia started to come back to me. A woman coming up behind me. The pain as she sliced by body like cheese. And how she bit me. It was weird; I was being told a story of monsters and myths, but I believed it very quickly. Most of it didn't even surprise me. I guess the proof was in the scars on my stomach, but still.

Then I realized. "Wait... You shouldn't be near me! I've been bitten by a vampire; I'll turn into one of them!"

"Oh please. This isn't one of your 40's horror films, Justin. Lamia isn't a vampire; she's a cannibal. So unless you suddenly want to switch morals, you should be good to go."

"That still doesn't answer the question of were we are."

Rose looked around, and I could see the tiredness in her eyes. How long had I been out? And what time was it now? For all I knew it could be midnight, three months after the last day of school.

"I think I figured a bit of that out. This may be Lamia's lair; where she sleeps at night and such. Why else would she shadow-travel here? But, if I had to guess, the Queen of Libya would want to keep her lair close to home."

"So you mean-"

"Yeah. If I'm correct, and I'm really hoping I'm not, we could be in Libya right now. But it doesn't matter. I've already explored every inch of this place. There is no way to the surface."

I tried to move but, as soon as I tried, scorching pain seared up and down my chest. I cringed, then stopped moving. "Am I still bleeding?"

Rose nodded her head. "We need a hospital, but I don't know what else to do." Even in the dim light, I could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red.

"Don't worry about me; I'll be fine," I said, forcing on a brave face. "Let's just get the hell out of here, okay?"

"Okay."

"Help me up, please." She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. Pain rushed up and down my body, and I winced. I had to lean most of my body weight onto Rose just to stand, but she didn't seem to mind.

"So, here is what's weird," Rose said as we began walking around the room. She grabbed a torch from the wall and held it above her head like in one of those old adventure movies. "When we were in the gym, I couldn't tell you were hurt. You just looked passed out, you know? But as soon as I killed Lamia, all your wounds and blood came into view."

"You couldn't see my... weird." I didn't really know how to process this. My brain had become fuzzy from blood loss and it hurt to try and think.

"It's called Mist, little humans," a voice in the darkness boomed.

Immediately, Rose's hand flew to her dagger. "Who's there?"

"I am Mormo. And you must the little brats that killed my friend, Lamia," the voice hissed.

"Great," I heard Rose mutter. "Another vampire."

I decided I'd never watch another vampire movie. Even if my little sister Ella begged me to watch Twilight (though I'm not really sure if they count as vampires).

Mormo appeared from the same way Rose had come in. He was short, scrawny and bald. Wisps of white hair poked out of his grey skin. He wore a red sweater vest and tan dress pants, like a retired old man. Fangs hung out of his mouth like a saber-toothed tiger, and his eyes glowed a burning red. Mormo's face gave off so much hatred that it was hard to look at it. That and he was butt-ugly.

Rose raised her dagger (now I'm wondering where she got such a thing) and said, "We killed her only out of self defense. We're... sorry about that. But, please, we are a long way from home and very confused. How do we get out of here?"

Mormo scoffed. "Your friend should be able to tell you that. It seems he can see through the Mist. But it doesn't matter. Because I'm going to feast on your bones like the bad children you are."

I looked at Rose, but even in the dim light of the torch I saw she was terrified. She couldn't carry me, and hold the torch and fight with the dagger. I told her to drop me. Rose paused, then nodded. "Find the way out," she whispered. "I'll deal with Mr. Rogers over here."

When she let go of her support, I almost fell over. I was running out of time before the blood loss killed me. But Mormo was totally focused on us. There was no way around him without a distraction.

It's not everyday a guy has a best friend like Rose. And I'm pretty sure without her I wouldn't be alive. That girl drew her dagger like a badass and raised it over her head. She charged, slashing and cutting at any opening she could. I'd say she looked like a ninja, except I honestly don't think she ever held a blade in her life. So a lot of it was just sprawled motion. But still, she had major guts to fly into battle mode like that.

At least for now, Mormo was too preoccupied with my spastic friend to give me a second glance. I stumbled to the wall and clung to it for support. Moving as fast as my wounded body would take me, which is to say not fast at all, I dragged myself down the corridor. It was so dark in here I couldn't see two feet in front of me. I held onto the wall and used it to find my way. Behind me, I could here the clashing and yelling of a battle.

I got to another room, one with a single square tile in the roof. Light was coming in just around the edges, and I hoped it was a trap door leading out. More light was seeping into this room, and I could see the outlines of objects. A fountain sat in the middle of the room, but no water came out. All I smelt was... oh, God. The fountain was spewing blood. But what else should I expect from a cannibal's lair?

The top of the fountain looked like it was close enough to the ceiling to reach, but I couldn't be sure. And I certainly couldn't climb in my condition. Plus, if I slipped into the fountain, who knows how many diseases I could get?

I inched away from the wall and tried walking on my own. I didn't realize something was rising out of the fountain until it was too late. Skeletons coated in think blood climbed out, one after another. They seemed confused at first, wondering why they were there. And then they spotted me. I had to assume that all these skeletons were the past victims of Lamia. According to Rose, the vampire queen had been around for 3000 years. There would be a lot more skeletons where these came from.

I waved at them, forcing on another brave smile. "H-hi," I tried to sound friendly, but it came out as a whimper. "You must be the protectors of this lair."

The skeletons chattered an agreement. Some off them had swords, some had shields (which was weird since Lamia only preyed on children). Some had teddy bears and dolls.

"I'm assuming Lamia killed you?" Another chatter of agreement. "Then I have good news. My friend and I recently killed Lamia, so you're free to go."

The skeletons stopped advancing and looked at one another. Some started climbing back into the fountain. Others were not so easily convinced. "I don't exactly have proof we killed her, but my friend drove her dagger through Lamia's heart right in that chamber over there." I pointed and the skeleton's eyeless sockets followed my finger. "She exploded in a cloud of gold sparkles." The skeletons seemed satisfied with this. "Actually, the girl who set you free is in trouble at the moment. Maybe, as a repayment, you could help her kill Mormo?"

At the name Mormo, the skeleton children went into a frenzy. I assumed Mormo's favorite dish was also children. The kids charged, raising their swords and teddy bears for battle. I ducked, but they ran passed me down the corridor. Only one skeleton remained, waiting for orders.

"Right. Could you help me open that trap door?"

The skeleton wore a pink night gown and grey slippers. I assumed she couldn't be more then eight; which was my sisters age. The thought sent shivers down my spine, but the skeleton girl didn't seem to mind. She pushed me up the fountain and, when I couldn't reach the trap door, detached her arm and handed it to me.

"Uh, thanks for the hand." I used it to push what I though was a door (it was really a heavy loose tile) out of the way. Light streamed in so fast I had to shut my eyes. "Thanks-" I turned, but she was gone. I did see someone though. Rose was climbing up the fountain behind me. Together, we pushed ourselves to the surface world.

As far as I knew, Rose had never been wrong about anything. That's what I saw her as; the smart friend with all the answers. But we were not in Libya. Not even close. No, for some reason the old cannibal queen of Libya held her HQ under a castle in Scotland. When we climbed up, we were almost trampled underfoot by tourists. Luckily no one payed any attention to us; maybe there was more of that mist stuff Mormo mentioned. So we didn't get in trouble for going into secret vampire catacombs that shouldn't exist under old Scottish castles.

We placed the tile back over the opening and Rose gasped. "It just melted back into the floor!"

I didn't get what she was saying. I could still clearly see a black tile surrounded by stone. But I didn't question her. We had both been through enough today without me confusing Rose.

There weren't any clocks around, but the night was just getting dark now. I remember my dad saying something about Scotland being five hours ahead of us when he went on a business trip here. He told about the two days he took just to look at the old castles (my dad was a history buff). He showed me a lot of pictures, but there were just so many castles that looked exactly the same, I couldn't tell which one this was.

I was wearing my raincoat over the bandages so no one could tell I was bleeding to death. Wouldn't want to make a scene. We followed a group of tourists that were just finishing up their tour when someone yelled through a microphone, "Daytime tours for Auchen Castle ending in ten minutes! Ghost tour about to begin!"

I don't think my dad ever visited Auchen, so it didn't ring any bells. But I felt almost certain this ghost your constituted children ghosts. Hopefully the tourists won't be too disappointed when nothing appears. According to Rose, the skeleton children dog-piled Mormo until he collapsed into dust, then crumbled to dusk themselves. I hoped their spirits had finally found peace, but I wasn't entirely sure how the afterlife worked for Greek monsters. I wasn't sure how the world itself worked anymore.

"First things first, we both get fixed up at the hospital. Then we sit down and try to figure out exactly what is going on with our Latin textbooks coming to life," I said as we exited the castle. I was still leaning on Rose, but for some reason I felt stronger then I did before. My headache was gone and I could see straight again.

"Not Latin, you dolt. Latin would be the Roman gods. These are Greek."

"What, you think that even though there are Greek gods, there can't be Roman too?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I suppose that's true. But then again, I don't think I understand anything that's going on right now."

It was getting dark very quickly, and I didn't want to stay and find out what kind of ghouls came around here at night. We followed the tourists onto a bus that was headed for Beattock.

I grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her aside before she could climb on.

"What?"

I nodded my head towards a police offi- I mean a constable. "Why don't we just tell him the situation and have us driven to the hospital?"

"Tell him what situation? That we shadow traveled here on the back of a cannibal and killed two vampires and an army of undead children? I don't think he'll believe us."

I rolled my eyes and talked up to the officer. "Excuse me, sir. I was just wondering if you could help us? We've been trying to find people for a fairly long time. You see, we just came out of those woods over there. We've been lost and lets just say we had some bad luck with the wildlife." For good measure, I unzipped my jacket and showed him the bloody bandages. "Could you maybe take my sister and I to the hospital?" I didn't have to look at Rose to know she shot me a glance at "sister." But it seemed the most believable story.

At first, the constable looked confused. Then he looked at Rose and saw just how beaten up she was, too. He nodded. "A'right, son. Me car 's jus' o'er the hill." We climbed quickly and jumped in the car. "Yu two don't seem ta be from a'ound here."

"Yeah; we're tourists," I said. "From America."

"We wondered off from our group," Rose added. "Somehow ended up here. We met a few animals that didn't seem too happy to see us."

"An' were are yer parents?"

"Well-" Rose cut me off.

"It's just us, sir. It was our first time going to a country alone, you see. Our parents are back in America; they're too busy with work to come with us on vacation anymore."

The constable looked bewildered that any good parent would let their child go to a different country alone. But he accepted the story nonetheless.

"C-could you hurry up, please? It's getting hard to breath," I said, my chest now feeling like boulders were dropped on it.

"Right," the man said, and he turned on his sirens. "Time ta get you to ta safety."

I had to admit, being surrounded by people with Scottish accents would have been awesome. The first girl I ever had a crush on was a girl who just moved from Scotland. And I'm pretty sure I only liked her for her voice. But when people are yelling in your ear, the affection sort of fades. Doctors were rushing in and out, trying to find an open ER for me. I was on a gurney, with an oxygen mask over my mouth. I was put on oxygen support because apparently one of my lungs wasn't in great shape. And I was still loosing a lot of blood; more then I had realized. The only reason why I felt stronger was the adrenaline pumping through my body. Now all that was gone, and I was probably going to die.

But Rose was okay, so that was good. She only had to get three stitches above her eye and eight on her left arm. But she was alive.

They finally took me into a room. I felt a sting as am IV was shoved into my arm. Red liquid began pouring into my body. The doctors were feverishly cutting away at the makeshift bandages. One nurse actually gasped when he saw my wounds. I hoped it really wasn't a big deal, but apparently the wounds were worse then they thought. The last thing I wanted was to be put to sleep again; to leave Rose alone in case of another bad guy ambush. But when they shoved that little needle into my arm, I could feel my consciousness slipping. I fell into a deep sleep, where a familiar face met mine.

Danny the school councilor was standing in the darkness, looking at her watch and tapping her foot impatiently. When she say me, she smiled.

"Dang, man. I've been asleep for an hour already. It's about time you showed up."

"Um... sorry?"

"Nah, it's ok. As long as you're alive. You _are_ alive, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure for how long. The doctors say my wounds are pretty bad."

"Doctors? You're at a hospital?" Her voice automatically became concerned.

"Yes. I was dying, remember? But, how are we talking like this? Am I really talking to you?"

"Yeah. It's one of my gifts as a demigod. Controlling my dreams and such. I'll tell Sandy you two are alive. She'll be glad to hear that."

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of Sandy; or maybe my body was just going into cardiac arrest. It was weird, but I was very aware I was dreaming. I'd never lucid dreamed before, and I didn't like it. "Is she alright? Is she with you?"

"Don't worry, Sandy is safe at camp with me. We're going to find you and get you home. I promise."

"We were just going to call my dad and get a plane ticket home."

Danny shook her head. "Don't fly. It's too dangerous. Even though you two aren't half bloods, Rose caught the gods attention by fighting Lamia and, I assume, winning."

"We fought some guy named Mormo, too. And a lot of skeleton children."

Danny cursed under her breath. "Hecate won't be happy about that. Those were two of her most valued minions. I wouldn't risk flying; too many winged creatures could knock you out of the sky. Just lay low for a while. We'll find you two. I'm going to ask for a prophecy from the Oracle tonight, then we can Iris message."

"Is that like and IM thing?"

She shook her head. "We'll contact you. You'll know it when you see it. Do you know where you are?"

"Somewhere in Scotland."

She cursed again. "That makes things fairly difficult. But we'll find you. Uh oh... looks like Chad is trying to wake me up. Must be time to bring Sandy to the Big House. Talk to you later, kid."

Her image shimmered and disappeared. I was left alone in my own black dream; still vividly aware I was not awake. It was probably the most unsettling sleep I've ever had.


	4. Danny: Thanks for Flying Air Venti

DANNY

I'm Danny Iona, and it's time for you to stop whatever you're doing and listen, because now it's my turn. I don't want to die here and be remembered for the wrong stuff, alright? And when you tell your friends about me, I don't want it to turn into a game of "telephone," where by the end I'm a villain or some shit. So get it right.

I wanted to tell my new seventh grader friend about my dream with Justin. He was alive, but unconscious. I had told Sandy that much. But I didn't have time to tell her anything else. Her two friends were halfway across the world and I needed to figure out a way to get to them that didn't include a plane ride. Quite the predicament Lamia put us all into.

But I had to put that all out of my mind. We haven't even gotten permission to go on a quest yet. I haven't even asked the Oracle for a prophecy. Didn't even ask if it was okay with Chiron if I asked the Oracle. But he had to say yes; two human kids were counting on her to keep them from dying. She couldn't just sit by and have them stumble around Europe trying to find their way back. Especially now that they've messed with not one, but two of Hecate's pawns.

Sandy and I headed towards the bonfire in the center of camp. There, we found the thirteen cabin tables, where eight of them were stuffed with campers. A bunch of kids huddled around the fire, dropping half of their food into the flames for their godly parents to get fat on. We both sat down at the Hermes table and grabbed plates. The goblets filled themselves with my favorite drink (root beer) and the food seemed to appear out of nowhere. The look on Sandy's face was pretty satisfying as she watched the food in awe. Then she began to eat.

"No!" I said, stopping her fork before it entered her mouth. "You have to put some of it in the fire first. You know, as a gift to your godly parent." I stood up with my plate and walked over the the fire. Grudgingly, Sandy followed.

"But I'm hungry!"

"Frankly, neither I nor the gods give a shit. So just drop the crust of your pizza in the fire." Even though the crust was my favorite part, I pulled it off and threw it in. "For Morpheus. Sleep well, Dad."

Sandy watched me with every step. She then proceeded to rip of the cheese of her pizza and toss it in. "To... whoever my mom is. Thanks for getting me this far."

The way she said it really felt like she thought she was talking to her mom. It was actually kind of sweet, but of course I said nothing. She followed me back to my seat and we began to eat.

"So, your friends are in Scotland right now," I whispered to her. Sandy snapped to attention, leaning her head in to hear me better. "But they're stuck. They can't fly back on a plane; it's too risky. Both of them are alive and resting at a hospital."

"Oh, good. I've been worried all day," she let out a sigh of relief, finally relaxing her muscles after a day of stress.

"I'm going to ask Chiron tonight for a quest. You can come along to the attic if you want, but I should warn you about the Oracle of Delphi. She... has a way with changing people. Some campers have gone crazy listening to her prophecies."

"Um... I think I'll just stay down here then."

I sneered, but I didn't blame her. The Oracle always gave me the chills. I hated going up to that horrible attic, but it was a necessity. No Oracle, no quest.

"Anything else I need to know?" Sandy asked, barely touching her pizza.

"Um... yeah. As soon as I get the prophecy, I'll show you what and Iris message is. We can update your friends on everything."

We finished up pizza just as camp songs started. I hated singing, so I slipped away to ind Chiron. Naturally, he was leading the songs. So I had to wait in between tracks to pull him aside. It's not easy trying to look up and talk to a seven foot stallion man. Even with Chiron's cheery exterior, I found it hard to meet his eyes. "I need a prophecy," I said.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Ah, yes. I assumed you would be asking for one any day now."

"And?"

"You may have it. I think it would be very unwise to not give it to you."

"Well, I know those kids in Europe could die but-"

"Not just for the humans," Chiron interrupted. "Things are stirring in the realm of the gods. The gods are getting restless. A great darkness has fallen across the land. They believe the time of the Great Prophecy is almost upon us."

"I'm not familiar with that particular prophecy."

"No, most campers aren't. But dark times are ahead. I think you and your friends have some roll to play in all this."

I tried to let that sink in. I didn't like "dark times," it was too general and ominous (of course I learned later that he meant Kronos rising and Luke Castellan trying to destroy Olympus. Let me tell you, the battle of Manhattan was not fun). But now I had no choice but to go to the Oracle. I didn't stick around for sing along time, and headed up to the Big House.

Inside I found Nathan sitting on the sofa, watching the fireplace crackle.

"Aren't you going to go down for dinner?"

"Not hungry."

I frowned. "Your sister is alright. I hope Mr. D told you she's alive?"

Nathan shook his head, but a light seemed to come back into his eyes. I climbed up the stairs to the second floor, then opened the trapdoor to the attic. Stairs automatically came down with the door, and I climbed up into the gloom.

Gods, did this place need a swiffer sweeper. Cobwebs hung from everything. Old trophies turned rust from age. And the smell of mildew was so overwhelming it almost took a solid form. I walked to the end of the tiny attic, where the shriveled up hippy-mummy of Delphi say. I could hardly look at her, but somehow I caught my confidence.

"I need a prophecy to help save my friends," I announced. At first, nothing. For a long while, the room was silent. "Please; it's important."

Finally, the hippy opened her toilet paper mouth. Green fog billowed out and around the room. Her sunken eye sockets glowed green, and a disembodied voice boomed:

"_Dreams of Olympus fall with no end,_

_But the seasons and currents must not bend._

_To save the heart that now is lost,_

_The sea must pay its final cost_."

The green smoke dispersed and the Oracle fell over like a rag doll, apparently no longer feeling chatty. I shivered, suddenly cold. Shaking my head, I walked back down the stairs and out to the bonfire. First I repeated the prophecy to Chiron. He looked troubled but unsurprised; most prophecies sounded morbid and negative. Then I found Sandy and repeated the words once more.

"Huh... I'm stuck," she said after a while. "Any idea what it means?"

"It doesn't seem to have anything to do with finding your friends," I admitted. "But I'm going to find them anyways."

"Maybe the line 'heart that now is lost,' has something to do with them," Chad pointed out, coming up from behind us and taking a seat on the log. "I overheard you guys talking. When will you be heading out?"

In the firelight his golden hair shined like embers. I could barely look into his blue eyes without melting. I would never admit how I felt about Chad, I had a reputation to uphold after all. The only way a Minor like me could get any respect around hear is to act like I could kick the ass of any kid their. Which I could. I've beaten up many Ares kids, and there wasn't anyone stronger then them. But I didn't matter. Chad liked me for who I was; calloused personality and all. Which is why he were dating for two months already.

"I don't know. I need to think of a plan first. Figure out a way over there that doesn't involve flying. Then of course I would need to pack. Figure out who I'm taking with me, too."

"Obviously I'm going," Sandy said. I didn't meet her eyes. "I am going... right?"

"I don't know, Sandy. It's only your first day in camp. You haven't even had time to train yet. You haven't even slept here yet. I was thinking of taking Chad and maybe a protector."

Sandy frowned. "What's a protector?"

"A satyr."

"What?!" Sandy said, jumping to her feet. "You wanna take a smell goat man over me? We're talking about MY best friends here! If I don't get to go, then... then..." she trailed off. "Then I won't let you live either!" And with that, she turned tail and stormed off.

I rolled my eyes. She couldn't just stop us from leaving; technically the quest is already in progress. But I guess I would be mad, too. She just needed to see it from my perspective: Sandy was untrained, unequipped and uneducated about the mythical world. If I let her come with us, there was no doubt in my mind she would die. She doesn't even know her godly parent yet. I've already had three summers and winters of experience with my spear and my powers. I just couldn't see how we could take her along, no matter how determined she was.

Chad nudged me. "You sure you're making the right decision?"

I sighed, bringing my knees to my chest. "Don't tell me you're on her side." He nodded. "I know what this means to her... I just don't see how it's possible."

Chad shrugged. "Maybe she's more capable then you think. I say we take her along. What better way to train then in the field? And besides, we'll be there to protect her. Between us we have eight years of training. I think we can take care of one kid."

I knew arguing with Chad was futile, so I smiled and nodded, though I still thought it was a bad idea. "Okay, Mr. Knowitall. I still don't see how we can make it to Europe without flying."

"While you were gone, Sandy was telling me about the vacation she was missing. A vacation to Spain. On their private jet." I guess I could see why he wanted Sandy to come along so bad.

"That's still flying."

"Sure. Flying on one of the fastest planes on the market with her own pilot. He's a medal winning pilot in the Air Force. If there was any flight I feel confident about, it would be that one."

"You know how I feel about planes."

"I do. But right now, that isn't exactly priority. We have a quest to complete, remember? So are you in or not?"

I mulled it over and over again in my brain. At least it wasn't a public flight. And her brother had experience in hazardous situation. I didn't see anyway around it. "Fine," I grumbled. "Let's go pack."

Alright, get this. So when we got to the landing strip back in Atlantic City the next day, everything was looking pretty good. We had our suitcases in the back of the camp's strawberry van along with a bunch of different weapons we thought we might need. Chad had taken Sandy to the armory before we left and she decided on a short sword. I kept telling her that swords were hard to master; that maybe a dagger would be better. She didn't want to listen to me. She kept saying, "I can handle it. Calm down."

So when we arrived, I went in the back of the van to start unloading our luggage, and what did I find? Nathan curled up behind the back seats. How he survived three hours in a bumpy car without making noise was beyond me. Even more confusing was how he got there without anyone noticing. The last person to put their luggage in the van was... Chad. He had to have seen a human being mixed in with our stuff. I was ready to kill him.

I grabbed Nathan by the collar of his camp T-shirt and practically threw him out of the van. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?" I fumed, almost positive I had smoke billowing out of my ears.

"You didn't really think you were going to save my sister without me," Nathan said, standing up and dusting the mud off his pants.

"Actually, I did. Considering I picked two other people to go on this quest that didn't include you."

"But I just figured-"

"You need to find some way to get back to camp, because you're not getting on that plane."

Nathan stopped, his mouth hanging open. "H-how would I get back? I don't see what the big deal is."

I wanted to wring is stupid little neck. "You dumbass. Don't you get it? I'm not aloud to have more then three people on a quest. There is only ever three heroes. Go into a quest with more, you'll still come back with three."

Sandy was with us now, asking a bunch of questions. I didn't listen to her, I was too angered that this scrawny human had the nerve to... to...

"You're saying that, if I stay, one of us will die?" his voice was quivering.

I nodded. "So you need to get your ass back to camp NOW."

"Woah, let's slow this down back here," Chad said, running to the back of the van to meet us.

"Why the hell did you let him come?" I said, turning on him. I really didn't think this quest deserved anyone to die for it, but I certainly didn't like the idea that the odds were against us. "You KNOW the rules!"

"I do know the rules for campers on quests."

"And?"

"And Nathan is neither a camper nor is he on this quest."

"... What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's human; he didn't even sleep in the Hermes cabin last night. He only has the t-shirt because his other clothes were destroyed. And he's only coming with us for the ride. From their we can drop him off at a hotel if it really freaks you out that much."

I still didn't like the idea of four people on the plane. But if we don't admit his on the quest with us, then maybe he doesn't count. Maybe HUMANS don't count. I moaned. "Fine. But once we cross into Europe, I'm dropping your ass off at the first hotel in sight." Nathan wanted to say something, but I grabbed my suitcase and walked towards the plane before he could.

It was a tiny plane, lean and fast. The front door was opened with removable stairs attached to the side. I climbed up, thankful I didn't have to go through any metal detectors. I was sure all the weapons we took with us would have gotten us in major trouble on a public plane.

Inside was so cushy I had to stop my mouth from hanging open. Nice tan rugs with little tables nailed to the floor. Each seat looked more like a recliner chair with seat belts. All the chairs faced each other so talking was easier. The smell of gourmet food filled the air, making my stomach rumble. Maybe flying really wouldn't be so bad.

As soon as I met Sandy's family, I changed my mind. I hadn't realized they were still going on their family vacation; I thought Sandy was borrowing the plane. But before I even said "Hi" to her dad, I already didn't like him. Mr. Coulson was too well groomed and tried too hard to be perfect. And what's more, I extended my hand to shake and he didn't even look at it. Her stepmom seemed even worse. She sat their, painting her nails like the trophy wife she was and not giving me a second glance. She barely looked older then twenty. The only one who I could tolerate in this family was Sandy's half brother, Alex. He was three years old (I thought her dad was only married two years?) and uncorrupted by money. Yet.

The rest of my crew piled into the little jet, and Sandy's butler took our bags. How exactly does someone get "butler" rich, again? It didn't matter. We all took our seats and buckled up. I prayed to the gods, especially Zeus, that this would not be a bumpy ride. Within twenty minutes we were off the ground and flying.

Sandy wasn't looking or talking to her dad. Nathan had tried to say hello, but Mr. Coulson was already on a conference call. So Sandy and Nathan whispered quietly to each other in the corner. I sat next to Chad, still fuming that he would let this kid join us.

"Look at it this way," Chad said, eating a bag of peanuts. "Now there are twelve people on this plane. Without Nathan, we would have been in even more trouble."

"I only counted eight."

He shook his head. "Pilot, co-pilot, Butler, personal chef. Don't you smell that? You can't get food like that from a microwave."

I still wanted to be mad, but he was right. Twelve was definitely a safer number then eleven.

"And," Chad added. "We can just dump Nathan off at whatever resort the Coulson's are staying at. Everything will work out fine; the kid just really wants to find his sister. If we didn't deny Sandy that, then we shouldn't deny him either."

I sighed. "I hate it when you're right."

Chad put on an exaggerated shocked face. "How can you hate me all the time?"

I smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. He took my hand in his and looked into my eyes.

"I promise no one will die on this trip. Not if I can help it."

I nodded. "I believe you. But we're going to have to try extra hard to keep Sandy safe. And by we, I mean you."

"Excuse me?"

"You were the one who wanted to bring her along. So you get to protect her. Kill monsters for her, train her in sword fighting, ex cetra. Do whatever you see fit to keep her alive."

Chad huffed, brushing his hand through his buzz cut. "Right, sure. Saddle me with the newbie."

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Like you said, no one on this trip will die on your watch."

For about seven hours of our fourteen-hour trip, everything was peaceful. Not a single monster to try and slow us down. No angry _venti_ spirits trying to knock us out of the sky. It took me about an hour and a half into the trip to relax my guard. But when I did, Chad and I spent most of the ride watching movies on the mini TVs. We talked about plans for finding the kids, er... Rose and Justin (Sandy keeps getting mad when I don't call them by their names). We listened to music on Chad's MP3 (it was a dark time before the iPhone was invented). I even read some of the in-flight Magazines.

Sandy and Nathan played games on his Gameboy, and the Coulson family either took naps or were talking on their phones the whole time. But the time actually felt like it was passing quickly.

Maybe about eight hours into the trip, I started getting a bad feeling in my stomach. This flight was too easy. Not a single monster had tried to attack a plane full of Demigods. Maybe having Mr. Coulson, the old fling of some goddess, was good luck. But I didn't like it. We should have seen something by now. I kept looking out the window, waiting for something. The only threat I saw were stormy skies forming. No big... oh wait. Since when are stormy skies NOT a big deal for half bloods? A crack of lightning in the distance, and just like that, they attacked.

Thousands of storm _venti_ attacking from all sides. The plane jerked forward and became to shake as the spirits tried to get through the hull. Electricity shot up my feet, and suddenly everyone was dancing and trying to get off the carpet. The banging of storm spirits was so loud, my ears hurt.

The voice of the pilot came over the speaker, "It seems we are hitting major turbulence as we head into this storm system. Please remain seated and buckled in as I try to maneuver us around the clouds."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I wanted to try to stop the venti, but I was inside. There was nothing I, nor anyone else, could do. I _TOLD_ Chad that flying was a horrible idea. But _no_, he couldn't listen to me for _one time_ in his life. And now, his life may end along with the rest of us.

When I heard a crack at the front of the plan, I never expected it to come from the front windows. The steel door to the front was closed shut, but I could tell the windows had shattered. You wanna know how I knew? Because the plane began to plummet.

Even in my seatbelt, I felt my butt coming off my seat. We were rocketing down; straight towards the water. I let out a strong of curses, but no one could hear past the horrible whistling in our ears. My ears popped once, then twice, then continuously as we dropped. I'm pretty sure my heart kept stopping along with my ears. Even if I lived, I doubted I would ever hear again. Then again, I doubted I would live. Either way, this crash was _not_ going to be the highlight of my summer.


	5. Rose: Attack of the Killer Weasels

ROSE

Oh, wow. We've already made the rounds back to me? Alright. Let's see... where did Justin leave off? Oh, right. He was passed out in the hospital while I waited in the lobby.

Sure my face was cut up and I got stitches in my arm. But does that make the doctors check for further injury? No. Let's just send the girl who got mauled by two vampires out into the lobby still covered in her own blood. So I sat their, reading cheap Scottish magazines and trying not do die of boredom. Wouldn't that be a way to go? I can see the headlines now: The girl who killed two demons died suddenly of increased boredom (wake will be held on Tuesday).

So when I went to find the bathroom, the last thing I expected was to see Sandy. Well, not really Sandy. I go into the one person bathroom and am about to pull down my pants when a shimmering image appeared in the mirror. I didn't even know what it was, but I zipped up my pants faster then lightning. In the image, three familiar faces smiled at me.

"Rosie!" Sandy shrieked. "You're alive! You're... peeing?"

"No. What is this?" I asked, my face burning with embarrassment.

"An iris message," Danny the councilor said. "It's hard to explain in the short time we have, but the Greek gods are-"

"Real?" I cut in. "Yeah. I got that. Well, whatever is going on here, thank God, or gods or whatever, you called when you did. One second later and you would've-"

"We get it!" Nathan yelled. "Please just, don't pull down your pants."

It was so good seeing his face. Even if it was only the day after I last saw him, it feels like an eternity ago. So much has happened in such a short time, it was hard to process things.

"Right, well, you better tell me what's going on quickly. I didn't just come to the bathroom to talk in the mirror," I said, my bladder now feeling like an overblown balloon. I didn't know how much time I had before I popped.

"Here's the deal," Danny started off. "We're going to come get you. I already told Justin no planes, but now I'm telling you. This is what we know so far," she continued to say some poetry she heard from the hippy prophet. "So... I'm not sure what it all means. But we'll find out soon enough."

"That's all fine and well. And it's great to see all of you. But now I need to, uh, get down to business."

Sandy yelped. "Say no more." She swiped her hand across the screen and the image faded. So I released the flood, washed my hands and walked out.

Maybe this is weird, but I mutter to myself a lot. "Why does there have to be a prophecy thrown into the mix?" I grumbled. "What gift? What dream? It doesn't make sense..."

"Oh, dear. This is a tad awkward, isn't it?" A voice from behind me laughed. A fairly hunky voice that flowed like honey but was somehow light as air. I turned to see the brightest man I've ever laid eyes on. Golden hair, golden eyes behind gold-trimmed sunglasses. Practically golden tan. Even a yellow t-shirt with white pants. Though his face... actually reminded me of Chad the football player.

"See, that prophecy you're talking about? I'm afraid it doesn't belong to you."

"What prophecy? I wasn't talking about a prophecy!" I'll admit, I'm not the best liar. Already I had a bad feeling about this guy. Anyone who dresses so yellow can't be good, right?

"Yes you were. It's not polite to lie to a god, Ms. Sinclair."

"God?" I didn't know what else to say. If this guy wasn't lying, then it was my first godly interaction. Man, this has become the craziest day of my life.

"Yes, god. Apollo, at your service." He gave a bow. "Well, not really. You're sort of in my service. But we'll get past that. This is usually Hermes' job, but I came here to deliver a message." He held out a scroll to me. I took it, but the paper felt hot in my hands. I was tempted to drop it, but I held firm.

"What's this?"

"That's your prophecy. See, I don't usually have two prophecies going on at once; especially not for people trying to reach the same goal. But throwing humans into the mix makes things confusing. So I whipped up this baby to guide the other half of this little quest. Go on, read it."

I unrolled the parchment. It felt old and breakable in my hands, but I read it:

_"The world will sleep in endless death_

_Unless spring reclaims what it once left._

_To find the doom that is unsealed,_

_Forgotten bonds must now be healed."_

As soon as I finished reading, the parchment caught fire and turned to ash in my hands. My brow furrowed, but I couldn't make sense of a single line. "What does it mean?"

Apollo shrugged. "Sorry. Can't divinate and tell. It's against the rules. But I can tell you one thing. I need a few things picked up; a big day is coming up and I need a gift for an old, um... acquaintance. My favorite place to shop is the place where gods once stood. Bring back my gift before the ides of July, and I'll owe you one." The way he said each word sounded like he was speaking in code. Everything was a hint, and I just had to figure it out.

Apollo turned to leave. "Oh, one more thing. I may not be able to interfere with demigods, but humans are up for grabs. I'm not the god of medicine for nothing, kid."

"But-"

"So long!" And in a flash of bright light, he was gone. Were all gods like this? Arrogant but helpful? I really hoped so.

I walked back into the waiting room, when suddenly a doctor ran in. "Oh good, yer still here," she said, a smile spreading across her face.

"What is it?" I asked, my heart skipping a beat.

"It's yer brotha'. We left 'im alone to sleep and... well just come look."

We raced into his room and, there he was. Justin's eyes were open. He no longer had a breathing tube in his mouth. His face wasn't as pale, and even his bad acne had disappeared. My face lit up like a Christmas tree. But at the same time, I was hit by a wave of exhaustion.

"C-could you do me a favor?" I asked the doctor.

"Anything."

"I could really use a place to sleep. We've both had a long day."

The doctor nodded. "I'll jus' tell everyone I'm keepin' you for observation. An' between you an' me, I don't know what 'append to your brother, but I'll call it a miracle an' leave it at that."

She winked, turned and left. I looked at the clock. Four in the morning. No wonder I needed to pass out. I didn't even need a bed. As soon as I hit the waiting chair in the corner, my Christmas tree lights went out.

We spent all of the next day getting our bearings at the hospital. Justin spent all of his fifteen dollars on snacks from the vending machine (for later, of course). I still had a twenty, but I doubted that would get us anywhere. We stuffed our things in his backpack, then compared notes. He told me about his weird dream with Danny. I told him about my weird mirror phone call with Danny. And my talk with the Sun. And the two prophecies that were now underway.

After we took a few maps and created a plan, Justin got changed out of his hospital pajamas and we slipped out the back door (don't worry. We had called Sandy's dad and he took care of the bill. He's pretty awesome like that). Still, I didn't think it should be so easy to leave a hospital. But it really was simple as walking out the back door. I still look back on that moment as the first and last bit of luck we had on our backpacking trip across Europe.

Beattock wasn't a large city, and it was mainly in the country side. Justin had "borrowed" a map of Scotland from a tourist who set their purse down. Don't freak out, we didn't take anything else. Justin and I had come to a rather easy decision that Scotland was NOT where the Greek gods wanted us to go. We figured the best place to start figuring this quest out was, you guessed it, Greece. So south it was. We planned on taking that under-channel train from England to France, then catch a few buses to Greece. Didn't sound too hard, but we only had twenty dollars to work with. Not to mention an apparently angry goddess of magic on our backs. And it was easy to assume Mormo was not going to be the last monster we faced.

One thing was definite: this was the first and last time I was ever going to set foot in Europe again.

For the first stretch of our journey, we walked maybe fifteen miles out of town. By the time we finished, we were sweaty, hungry and tired. Walking was not going to be fun. Justin checked his watch.

"It's already eight o'clock. Gonna be hard to see soon. We should take a break here."

'Here' wasn't exactly anywhere at all. We were on the side of a not-so-busy highway with rolling hills on either side of us. But my legs were too shaky to try to move any further. We hopped over the guardrail and into the grassy hills. Justin offered up his backpack as a pillow, but I didn't much feel like sleeping on crackling bags of chips. I did take a water bottle. It was gone in three gulps. And we collapsed together under the full moon.

"So... I guess that big round thing in the sky is really Artemis in her silver chariot," I said, thinking aloud.

Justin chuckled. "Yeah. And this big expanse of rock underneath us is really Mother Earth."

I laughed, a bit from the thought that we could be sleeping on a giant woman's face and a bit from possible heat exhaustion. "And... the sky is really a lightning-happy guy in a toga."

We laughed their for a while, forgetting for a little while how far away from our own beds we were. How different our lives were now.

"Why is this happening to us?" Justin asked suddenly. "Why did it have to be us who were dragged halfway across the Earth? I can't tell you how many times in one day I've been reminded that I'm only human. So why us?"

I shook my head. "Fate? Bad luck? I don't know. But somehow, I always knew this would happen."

"What?"

"Even in a world of gods, monsters and half-bloods, I'm still normal. You know, I always said those comic books in my room were Nathan's. What total bull. I walked down to the comic book store every Saturday to pick up new issues. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being special. Of soaring through the air or shooting lasers out of my eyes. But now that it's actually possible, I'm still just me."

Justin nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice. But you know, just being us doesn't seem so bad."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, look at what 'just us' has accomplished. We fought monsters, worked with skeletons, met gods, pissed off a goddess and even got our own prophecy. I'd say 'just us' is looking pretty good right now."

He always knew just what to say, which is why I decided I'd keep him around for as long as I could.

Then, everything changed when the demon ferrets attacked. At first, I didn't see them. Only when they were crawling up my legs did I realize what was happened.

"Oh, no! A wild polecat army appeared in the tall grass!" Justin yelled, already on his feet and trying to shake them off.

"Not funny!" I yelled back, grabbing my knife from my belt. I slashed at the rodent things, but they just seemed to dodge out of the way. I slashed and cut frantically, their little feet crawling up my legs like spiders. "Ewewewew!"

They bit and scratched at my skin, making me feel pain from all sides. I managed to get to my feet. "Run!" I yelled. We bolted down the hill, an army of a thousand ferrets at our heels. I managed to pluck a few off of my body and throw them. My brain was scrambling to find a way out of this hairy situation. Maybe a stream would help? A field of molten lava? Anything?!

Somehow, the freaky ferrets surrounded us. Back to back with Justin and faced with the strangest death I could think of, I raised my dagger in defense.

With one voice, the polecats spoke. "So. You are the ones who killed my minions." The voice was bitter sweet, and it sent chills down my spine. Already I had a pretty good guess of who it was.

"We didn't mean to, Hecate. It was self defense!"

"Ha!" The goddess scoffed. "Haven't heard that in a while. Still, I find it fascinating you managed to kill them. It would be impressive, I suppose, if it wasn't futile. See, I don't like it when my things are taken from me. And you two just shoved two of my favorite things back into Tartarus. So I'm afraid I'll have to kill you."

Crap. For once, my mind went blank. I had absolutely no ideas on how to get out of this. Even though the goddess wasn't here herself, it was easy to assume these tiny, adorable polecats would be as hard to kill as her.

"Do goddesses usually kill any human that bothers them?" Justin said. I couldn't see him from behind me, but I could tell he was about to wet himself. I didn't blame him; we were against a goddess and our only weapon was one tiny kitchen knife.

"Yeah, pretty much," Hecate answered, already bored with the conversation.

"Did they usually send rodents to do it for them?"

"I-" she paused, confused. "Shut up."

"I'm not bashing you, Hecate," Justin said, his time becoming more relaxed with each word. "I just didn't think a polecat death was the goddess of magic's style."

I thought I was catching on to what he was saying. "Yeah. It just seems so... cliché. I mean, out of every trick in your book, you send us one of your least sacred animals to nibble us to death? I guess you just didn't care that much about your little vampire friends."

"Wait... no, I see what you're saying," Hecate said, almost nervous. "I can make this cooler. Really. Maybe... torches. And ravens. Would that be cool enough?"

In the blink of an eye, floating torches appeared around us. The polecats had turned into rather menacing ravens, and suddenly I was thinking this wasn't the best plan anymore. Justin shrugged, now standing next to me. "I'm not impressed. I think you could do much better."

"Oh, really?" The ravens cooed in unison. "How would you make it better, human?"

"Hmm, maybe a change in scenery? Folkstone perhaps? I heard it's beautiful there this time of year. Wonderful place to die."

"Yeah. But I doubt, she can do it," I added. "Folkstone is pretty far away. She probably can't even take us half that distance."

"Silence, picky humans!" Hecate cawed angrily. "Of course I can take you there. I am the goddess of magic! Of crossroads! Of mist! Such a feat is easy for me!"

The world became darker then before. My stomach felt like I was going down a roller coaster drop and my felt like it was spinning like a top. When my feet hit the ground again, we were surrounded by beautiful quaint homes and the smell of sea salt.

I nodded. "Alright, I guess that was impressive. But I don't know; this place doesn't look so great. I'd prefer to die in Athens."

"Enough!" The ravens screeched. "I will not take you farther! You will die HERE!"

All at once, the black birds hurtled towards us. Thousands of claws digging into my skin at once. One almost clawed my eye, but it missed by a few centimeters. I felt like the step sisters from the original Cinderella.

I slashed with my dagger, trying to hit anything I could. Then I remembered the torches. I took a few steps, keeping my arms over my face. I felt like every part of me was scratched and bleeding, which it probably was. In the swirl of black feathers, it was hard to see where I was going. But somehow, I managed to find one of the floating torches. I grabbed it out of the air and waved it around frantically. Twenty birds exploded in gold dust. I pointed the fire at the birds on my face, at my feet, and all around me. They screeched in pain. Some flew away. Many exploded. I looked over to see Justin catching on. He ha just grabbed a torch and began to burn.

"Insolent morons!" Hecate screeched. "How dare you kill my birds with my own torches! I'll claw out your eyes for sure now!" As if she wasn't already planning on it. There was a snap, and the fire disappeared. I figured Hecate finally got smart about Smoky the Bear. But we still had the sticks, and they was close enough to a club as we were gonna get.

So we whacked, and chopped, and slammed until a single raven was left, surrounded by two inches of gold dust. I was breathing heavily, and every part of my body stung. Luckily it didn't seem like the claw marks were that deep, so we wouldn't have to go to the hospital.

The raven cawed, it's eyes burned with intrigue. "Again, I am fairly impressed. Perhaps you both will make fine wizards one day."

"Was this... a test?" Justin asked, his voice tensing like it always did when he was angry.

"Of course not. I really _would _like to see you two dead. But perhaps you will be interesting entertainment," Hecate said. "Be warned, children of Earth. I am not the only god who wishes you dead. Many are angry that you dare to go to the first Mountain. Others think without you, the Great Prophecy would have never been put into motion. Many monster lay ahead of you in the Forbidden Lands. It will not be easy. " And with that, the raven cawed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Really great words of encouragement from the goddess of ferrets.

"That was-" Justin sighed.

"Interesting?"

"I was gonna go with terrifying. But sure, interesting works."

I huffed, still struggling to catch my breath. "So... why did you choose Folkstone?"

Justin shrugged. "That's where the Channel train is to get to France. I figured asking for any further would be pushing our luck."

I nodded. Then something hit me like a bag of books. "Did you hear what she said?"

"What? The part about monsters trying to kill us? Or the part about gods trying to kill us?"

"Neither. She said we need to go to the 'first mountain'. Unless I'm mistaken, that's Mount Olympus, That must be what Apollo meant by 'the place where gods once stood.' We finally have a solid lead."

Justin nodded. "If you're right, then yes. A solid lead. If your not..."

"Then we won't have time to figure out another way. It's already June 17th. We have until the 15th of July to do this thing for Apollo."

"Not to mention we don't even know what the thing is," Justin added.

"Remind me why we have to do this quest again?"

No answer. Just our luck we get thrown into a quest we didn't even want to be on. All I want to do is get home, but it's pretty stupid going around upsetting the sun god.

"I have a plan," Justin said. "I'm too tired to do anything at the moment. How about we head to that train station, buy our tickets, and sleep on the way to France."

I nodded, though I dreaded the thought of having to walk to the station. My legs throbbed like a thousand suns and every muscle in my body ached. Not to mention I haven't had a ton of sleep for the past two nights. But we headed for the station none the less. I really hoped 20 dollars would make enough pounds for two tickets.


	6. Sandy: I Boil some Demons

SANDY

Danny left off with us plummeting to our deaths, right? Okay, so this is how it went down:

When we hit the water, I expected us to crumble and fall apart into hundreds of pieces. It is wildly known that if an object is traveling fast enough and it's the water, the impact feels like cement. I'd seen enough TV shows of plane crashes to know what was supposed to happen. But it didn't happen. Instead, the plane dove underwater like a torpedo and kept diving. The hull didn't even seem damaged by the impact. No water was leaking in, either. And amazingly, no one got whiplash from the crash, manly because it didn't feel like we hit anything. All it felt like to me was that we had just slowed down. No entry, no feeling of SPLAT as we hit. And we kept sinking.

I guess the laws of physics don't apply when you're dealing with gods and mermaids.

I was so amazed, I didn't even look out the windows until Alex yelled, "Ariel!" When I looked, the little boy was right. We were surrounded by mermaids and mermen, all swimming down next to us. The men had green or blue scaled skin, sharp teeth and fangs. Some had crab claws for hands. Others had the bodies of sharks or electric eels. These weren't Disney mermaids, though. These were the genuine articles.

When the ocean became to dark to see, the Mermen began stabbing with their swords and tridents at the hull of the plane, spilling in water from all sides. The plane quickly filled up, leaving us all to hold our breath in the darkness. After two minutes of the mermen cutting through the metal, I couldn't hold on for much longer. I opened my mouth, and began to panic. I was going to die at the bottom of the Ocean along with my family and friends. But where water should have filled my lungs, I felt air. I could breath! Even though it was too dark to see the other passengers, I sincerely hoped they could drink air-water, too.

I felt an arm wrap around my waist and pull me out of the plane. We sank lower and lower, and my only regret was that I couldn't see what the hell was going on. As though the merman heard my thoughts, he took out a rather large pearl and shook. The pearl lit up, shining up to about three feet around us. I looked up, and could see other mermen doing the same. For every man-fish, there was one passenger in their arms. Everyone was alive; breathing but terrified. The only ones I didn't see were the pilot and copilot. It was a horrible thought, but it wasn't hard to figure out where what happened to them.

When my feet touched the bottom, I jolted. How far had we gone down? And how come I hadn't died of pressure? I guess the same reason I hadn't died from drowning. Or a plane crash.

Somehow, it was a lot lighter down here, as though the sand was giving off its own light. Everything was tinted blue, but I could see houses. Marble columns held up old temples. Mermen, Nymphs and fish swam around in harmony, though in the dark everything looked a lot more menacing.

"It's okay," the merman said. "We will take you to safety."

"Uh-huh," at this point, I shouldn't have been surprised when I talked clearly underwater, but I was. What did you expect? I was young and ignorant. "Where is that?"

"The palace of Poseidon."

As we got closer to Poseidon's crib, I decided this god had too much money. His palace was so large, I could barely take it in. And it practically glowed like its own sun. We stepped inside the palace gates, and for a split second I hoped the inside wouldn't be filled with water. I was starting to get sick of being wet. But, obviously, that was too much to hope for.

Servants, giant crabs and weird rainbow fish-horses scurried around, trying to prepare for who knows what. My merman tour guide directed me down a few hallways and to a room that was locked with fifteen-foot high double doors. He knocked, and the doors swung open.

Inside was a rather pompous throne room. The domed ceiling was so high, it sunk into darkness until I could no longer see it. The room had to be the size of a football stadium, with towering marble columns on either side. A fountain sat in the middle with a tiny statue of what I assumed to be Poseidon. The statue had water shooting out of his mouth and hands, which I kind of thought it was disturbing. Who keeps a statue around with their own face on it? This god kind of seemed Narcissistic to me.

But he wasn't in the room. There were two gigantic thrones on the opposite side of the room, but only one was occupado. A woman sat lazily on the throne, sipping what I was told later is called Nectar in a rather large martini glass. She wore a long green dress that looked like it was made from rolling streams, Greek-style sandals and a long pearl necklace. Her black curly hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail, revealing her glowing green eyes and pale completion. Sticking out of her hair were a pare of horns that almost resembled crab claws.

When the plane crash survivors saw her, I heard two voices speak at the same time. One was Chad, who said, "Is that... Amphitrite?" At the same time he said her name, my dad asked, "Amy? Is that you?"

My heart dropped. Amy was supposedly my mother. My mother as in the wife of Poseidon. Automatically, the line from the prophecy shot into my head like a bullet. The sea will pay its final cost. Add that to Danny's "there can only be three on a quest" theory, and I was ready to walk into a morgue. Suddenly I felt like I was drowning, even though the weird water magic was still working fine. A pressure settled onto my chest and I would've fell over if I wasn't underwater. Only later did I realize I was having a panic attack.

"Amy?" Minnie asked, her face suddenly burning. "You mean this is... is..." she couldn't seem to get the words out. Bed buddy? Old fling? Mother of your child? She could have said any of them. But she just seemed too mad to find a word vulgar enough to spit at the goddess of nymphs.

When Amy-... Amphitrite saw my dad, her bright eyes widened in shock. She motioned for one of her mermaids to come closer, and then whispered something in her ear. The mermaid shrugged, whispered something back, and then was dismissed. In a voice as soft as silk, Amphitrite spoke. "I was... unaware there were others on the plane. None the less, I am glad you all made it safely."

"What about Eric?" Walters, our butler, asked. His voice was shaking. Eric was our co-pilot and Walters' nephew. The Queen of the seas looked away, her eyes suddenly sad. Walters crumbled, and our chef Francis went to comfort him.

"I am truly sorry about your pilots. I doubted it was Zeus's intention to harm mortals, but sometimes these things happen." When the Queen spoke, she really did sound sorry. But why would a goddess care about humans?

Something nagged at the back of my mind. When Rose was in her obsession with Greek myths last year, she had spent a whole of two hours talking about Poseidon and the myths surrounding him. She thought that because I loved the ocean so much, I would be interested. I didn't really care much about the gods, but I couldn't deny I liked Poseidon the best. She had told me about Poseidon's never ending jealousy for the lovers of his wife, and vise versa. The couple was dysfunctional (to say that Amphitrite didn't want to be Poseidon's wife would be an understatement), but they ended up having a kid together. So I guess I now have two half-brothers.

_That's all fine and dandy_, I wanted to yell at my brain, _but none of this is really helpful._ Then I remembered. About the myth of Poseidon wanting to marry Amphitrite. My mother isn't a goddess; not entirely. She's a nymph. Nymphs have always had a soft spot for humans, right?

The goddess climbed out of her throne and walked (swam?) over to us. As she did, she struck from ten feet tall to a little more then half that size. And she walked right up to my dad. I expected them to kiss; to confess love to one another so that dad could divorce horrible Minnie right then and there. But the only "intimate" thing Amphitrite did was put a hand on my dad's shoulder.

"It's nice to see you again, Arthur. Though I must admit I wasn't expecting you to be in a plane full of demigods." She spoke as though she was in Shakespeare; very dignified and lawful. Then she turned to me. "And you must be Allesandra. You're so grown up since last I saw you. It fills my heart to see you face-to-face. If only it were under better circumstances."

"Woah, woah," Minnie cut in. "I'm totally lost. Can anyone explain what exactly is going on?"

Amphitrite ripped her gaze away from me and onto Nathan. "Yes, I assumed this would be rather confusing to a mortal." She spit out the last word like it was an insult. Minnie was taken aback, like she suddenly realized what my mother was. "I am Amphitrite. Queen of the Oceans, wife of the Sea god Poseidon, goddess of the changing tides and sea nymphs, and mother of Allesandra."

"Goddess? That's insane!" Minnie yelled in her high pitched voice that could crack glass. Her hand flew to the cross around her neck; she thought of herself as a Christian but I doubted capital-G God wanted someone with as much baggage as Minnie.

Amphitrite shot her an irritated glance, but continued. "Your plane was shot out of the sky by an angry Zeus, which I'm sure was my husband's idea. You see, the gods are in a slight state of panic."

She looked at Chad, Danny and I like she couldn't decide if she believed these other gods.

"Why? What happened?" Chad asked.

"Pandora's box has been stolen."

Everyone went quiet. I'd heard of the story of Pandora, but I didn't see why this was a big deal. The box that held all evil had already been emptied when the world first took shape. Why worry about an empty box?

As though Amphitrite knew what I was thinking (and as far as I knew she could have), she said, "The box was released many millennia ago by a young goddess named Pandora. The myth says that her husband gave the box to her as a gift, but told her to guard it but never look inside. She couldn't take the mystery anymore, and when she opened it she released a thousand evil spirits into the world. But she also let out a single spirit of hope. This, of course, is fabricated to hide the true horrors of the box."

My first thought? _Oh, shit_.

"The Box is actually the holder of plagues. Whenever it is opened, it releases the largest famines and natural disasters this world has ever seen. It has only been opened three times since the world formed. First time, the first Ice Age began. Second, the plagues of Ancient Egypt found in Exodus struck. Third was the Bubonic plague in Europe. The longer the Box sits idol, the worse the plague will be. It has been sitting for 800 years. How bad do you think it will be if the Box is opened now?"

"But who stole the Box?" Danny asked.

Amphitrite shook her head. "That I can not tell you, for I know not. None of the gods do. Only Apollo has been seeing snippets of clues from his prophecies."

"But what do Rose and Justin have to do with all of this?" Nathan piped up.

"Again, I know not. But I do know that your friends have been given a quest by Apollo to retrieve the Box. They are making their way to Greece now. But I am sorry I cannot give you more information."

"No, you gave us more then enough," Chad chimed in. "Thank you so much." He was sincere, but he frowned as he said it. I didn't blame him; this quest was a lot more important then I had realized.

Amphitrite bowed her head. "If you wish, you may stay in the palace and collect your bearings. Then I can have my nymphs guide you to the coast of Europe."

We all looked at Danny for her call, since she was the quest leader.

"Thanks," Danny said after mulling it over for a bit. "But now that Pandora's Box is on the line, I think we should get back on the road ASAP. If it is alright with you, maybe we can spend the next hour resting and then be on our way."

The Sea Queen actually smiled. "Of course. Feel free to use whatever you find in the palace if it will help you on your quest."

We nodded and everyone turned towards the door. I was the last to leave, hoping that my mom would stop me. And she did.

"Allesandra? Could you wait a moment?"

I turned, but she was already right behind me.

She put a hand on my shoulder (I guessed shouldering was how she showed love) and gave a sad smile.

"I am sorry for never seeing you as a child," she said, with the tone of her voice still making her sound like nobility. I guess there wasn't room for casual talking mother-to-daughter. "I usually see my children every day since most of them live her. But Poseidon would not let me keep you here. That old sea god was always so jealous. It feels unfair that I never got to see you. So I wish to help you on your quest."

She waved her hand and a silk satchel formed out of sea foam. She reached in and took out two things. One was a single fishnet glove, and the other was a necklace with a mini gold trident.

I had no idea how they would help me, but I took the gifts. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

Amphitrite rolled her eyes. "Put them on." So I did. "I hope you will find these to be as useful as I did. I used that particular trident for almost three thousand years. It was one of the first gifts Poseidon ever gave to me, and now it's your turn to have it. However, these gifts will only work when you need them most."

"Wow," I was stunned. She was giving me one of her prized positions. I've gotten a lot of cool gifts for my birthday and Christmas. Being rich, I really could have whatever I wanted. But my dad's personal shopper bought all that stuff. Never before have I been given a gift that actually meant something. "This is amazing. Thank you." I really wanted to hug her, but I got the feeling she wasn't the hugging type. I couldn't really see how she and my dad ever went together, but dad had always told me he was head-over-heels anyways. And I don't think he ever really got over her, either.

Amphitrite smiled again and shrugged. "I think I "Now you should go find your friends. Your quest is not over yet."

"What about Dad? He can't come with us on a quest this dangerous."

"He and his family are..." her face contorted with pain, as if the thought of letting Minnie stay for an extended period of time physically hurt her, "welcome to stay here as long as your quest takes. I'll make sure they are safe, even from my husband."

I nodded and thanked her, then walked out the doors. It didn't hit me until I was directed to a guest room that I was now claimed. I was no longer the kid whose parent was too ashamed to pipe up and say "hello". But I was still stuck in the Hermes cabin. Though, at this point, I didn't mind. With a mom as cool as Amphitrite, what was so bad about being a Minor?

We left a little more then an hour later, leaving my dad, stepmom and half brother behind. I wondered how awkward it would be for Dad and Mom now. Or how mad Poseidon would be if he found his wife's old fling living with them. I decided the god of the seas and Minnie would be good friends.

We were given new drachmas (for Iris messaging I guess), our weapons and two hundred dollars worth of mortal money wrapped in packs of seaweed. We were going to ride these rainbow horse-fish called Hippocampi and were accompanied by two mermen and four water nymphs. They claimed it would take a very long time to swim to Europe from here (we were practically in the middle of the Ocean), but there were a few islands that we could stop at to rest. I kind of dreaded the thought of having to ride an oversized sea horse all the way to Europe (I've never had much luck with animals, especially horses) but at this point it was necessary.

At least now I knew why horses hated me. Poseidon was the god of horses (and jealousy) so they were all probably in cahoots with him. And besides, the trip couldn't be terrible. Ever since I was younger I loved water more then dry land. My dad claimed I was born knowing how to swim and he never needed to teach me. I didn't believe him until now, but now I knew why. I was a water nymph, or at least half of one. So a day trip through the ocean should actually be enjoyable.

You might think it to be boring: riding magical horses in the ocean for hours without anyone talking. If you did think that, you'd be wrong. With the reflecting lights from the water, the millions of fish swimming around us, the suspense that formed every time a shark passed. It really was an experience. And besides, I had a hunch that my mom was really helping us out with the current. We were going so fast and I barely felt like I was moving. Which was good, since I doubted any of my friends were willing to stay under water for another ten hours.

A little while into the trip, the Hippocampi started rising closer to the surface. As we neared the top, it was nice to see some natural light from good old Apollo in the sky. Since we were probably still near the middle of the ocean, the worry for boats spotting is was little to none. Ahead, about eight miles, I could see a rather large island jutting into the sky. It was already the third island we passed, so nothing about it really caught my attention. And besides, the waviness of the water made it hard to see exactly what the island looked like on the surface. But I could tell it was very mountainous and covered with trees.

The nymph nearest to me (she had told me before her name was Tress) looked where I was looking and shook her head. "We'll steer clear of that island. You wouldn't want to meet Geryon. He's not a big fan of demigods."

"Okay, got it."

We road along for a bit, turning right so as to try and go around the island.

"How much further?" I asked Tress, whom I guess was technically my half sister. Or maybe she was my aunt. I didn't know; all I knew was that I now had a ton of new relatives.

The nymph shrugged, her blue skin glinting in the water. "Maybe another hour and a half. I'm not sure. The current is always changing, so it depends on Poseidon's mood."

"Um... do telchines usually work for Poseidon?" Chad asked, his voice tired and lagging.

"No, they are free daemons," the merman named Kerres answered. "Why would you ask?"

"Because there is a swarm of them heading our way now."

In the distance, a swarming black mass was speeding towards us at a terrifying rate. At first, I couldn't make out any individual shapes. All I heard was the howling of dogs and the clashing of teeth. But, as they got closer, my heart dropped into my stomach. The demons themselves were small, with weird half seal-half German Shepard bodies. But together, with thousands of them charging at us, they looked like one very large black cloud. If clouds had teeth and fins.

"Alright everyone, get into formation!" Kerres yelled. The six sea creatures formed into a circle around us. I didn't know how well I could fight underwater with the laws of physics making all of my movements so much slower, but I grabbed my sword from by belt anyways. Everyone drew their weapons, putting on their best game-faces.

"Who would have thought I would die fighting dogfish," I heard Nathan mutter, raising his two assassin's daggers hesitantly.

Chad was smiling. "At least they'll remember us for craziest death."

"Please," Tress cut in. "It is against our vow to let any of you die while we take you to Europe. This is not the end for you." I didn't like how she said you instead of us, but I had to make myself concentrate on the demons heading our way.

One of the mermen, I think his name was Quell, let out a deafening war cry. The water shook as his high-pitched shriek made me cover my ears. Some of the telchines actually exploded from the sound; turned into gold dust that sunk to the bottom of the Ocean. The Hippocampi bucked and whinnied, throwing us off. They left us in a flash of rainbow colors.

Within seconds, the telchines were on top of us. I could barely see anything besides dog heads and seal butts. Every so often, I would catch a glimpse of someone's sword, or a mermaid fin. But there was no chance to focus on anything else besides turning seals into glitter. I slashed and cut, but the sword was unbalanced in my hand. It didn't feel right, so it slowed me down.

The telchines bit and scratched, body slammed and slapped. I cut them down, one after another, but they just kept coming.

One knocked into my hand, and suddenly my sword was gone. I looked down just in time to see it sink into the darkness. "Oh, shi-" They were swarming me, digging and scratching at my skin. The pain was horrible, and I cried out. All I wanted was to get these beasts away from my friends and I. The pit of my stomach turned and tightened along with the muscles on my back. The water around me began to boil. I didn't feel burning myself, but I could see the bubbles and feel the heat radiating off (like if I stuck my head near a boiling pot, but not in it).

The telchines stopped attacking just long enough to look at each other. A few howled in confusion and pain. And, in a strange scene of what almost felt like fireworks, they popped in glorious arrays of gold dust. I looked around, so relieved that I could cry. My stomach unclenched and the heat dissipated. I was so tired, I could collapse any second. Until I realized that the only telchines who died in my boil attack were the ones attacking me. There were still so many left.

I had an idea, which I really hoped worked. I snapped the charm off the necklace my mom gave me. Automatically, it grew and grew until it was a full sized trident. I wasn't willing to waste time trying to figure out how the glove worked, but that didn't matter. I was back in business. I stabbed and cut, which felt perfect and smooth with such a balanced weapon. It felt like it was made for me, even if it was thousands of years old. But my arms were getting tired quickly. They burned and it was very hard to keep fighting. Whenever a telchine got to close, I would put my hand on his forehead and make the water around his body boil until he exploded. Not the most humane way to kill something, but it was effective.

At least now the beasts were thin enough to see my friends fighting. I didn't see Kesse, Tress, or that nymph named Arella. I hoped they weren't dead, but I could tell that who's on my side that were still fighting were running out of steam. We were loosing this battle.

Suddenly, the voice of Quell boomed in the darkness, like that sonic scream he did earlier. "Go!" He cried. "Get to the Island! We'll finish up here!" With every word he spoke, more Telchines exploded. I decided sonic scream was now one of my favorite powers and was going to lock it in my brain.

I tried to swim towards the top of the horde, cutting and boiling as I went. Nathan did the same, but he looked so banged up I wasn't how long it would take before he fainted. He left leg looked twisted and broken, and his face was so puffed up it looked like it was going to burst. We met the rest of the group on top and began swimming towards the island.

"I hate running away from a fight," Danny said, cutting up two Telchine that tried to follow us.

"I know," Chad said.

"Especially when that constitutes leaving people behind," she grumbled, slicing another one in half with her spear.

"Yeah."

When our ability to breath underwater no longer worked, we figured the last of our transport had died. We swam to the top, and gasped for air. The sunlight on my face felt so good, but I couldn't enjoy it. Our comrades had fallen for our cause. And I had a feeling they wouldn't be the last casualties.


	7. Justin: Lions, Dragons and Apples Oh My!

Justin

It turned out that twenty American dollars wasn't even enough for one ticket under the channel. It was kind of a hassle to call up my dad, get his credit card and phone number, then buy the tickets manually. Especially since my dad didn't realize I was in Europe until just then. See, what you must know about Foster Holt is that he isn't perceptive by any means of the word. Actually, he's usually either at work or drunk. Or both. He spent almost nine hours a day at the office, and never really spent time awake at home. Nonetheless, if still stung when he didn't notice I'd been gone for almost a week.

My mom and dad were divorced, but I didn't go to Mom's house until Monday. She would have noticed. Lou Ann Kinney (she went back to her maiden name after the divorce) was a waitress, a book shop employee and a bistro worker, trying to get as much money as she can. But she was always so obsessed with knowing what I was doing with my life, I was surprised she never called home to try and check on me.

But enough about my family background. Where was I? Oh yeah, the train. Dad was just really confused, but I fabricated some lie about being invited to Sandy's yearly trip to Europe. I told him that it was just Rose and I alone that day, so we didn't have the millionaires to mooch off of.

When I hung up, I was surprised to see Rose almost in tears behind me. "What's wrong?"

"I-I never called my d-dad to tell him what was happening to me. He's in the Amazon right now, totally unaware that I could die across the world."

I put on a warm smile, but it was weak. "But maybe it's better if he doesn't know. That way, he won't worry. And when we finish this quest, you can go home like nothing happened."

She nodded, but her eyes were already becoming puffy. She was trying so hard to bite back tears. Unlike my relationship with Daddy-O, Rose had always been really close to Mr. Bangash. Ever since her mom died, she had clung to him like a baby koala. They were always doing cool stuff together, like going to conventions in NYC or visiting the Alaskan rainforest (yes, there are rain forests in Alaska; look it up). They were inseparable, but after a while her dad had to sink into his work in order to pay the rent on their house.

The only person in the world who was closer to Rose then her dad was her mom. When Farah Bangash died in her car crash with her sister, Rose didn't talk to anyone for two months. Not even Nathan could get her out of their room. Sandy and I tried, too, but eventually we gave up reaching out. So I spent a lot of time with just Sandy. That's when I started really liking her... but that's not important right now.

So we had bought the tickets and only had to weight for five minutes before the train came. Thank goodness, too. I was about to collapse from exhaustion. It really surprised me that no one called the cops on the claw marked kids covered in blood, but I assumed that Mist stuff was covering us up again.

We both slept the entire ride to France, but the two hours wasn't enough. When we got off the Euro-tunnel, we stumbled around for a while until we both fell asleep curled up on benches. It was uncomfortable on my neck and back, but it didn't matter. I was so tired, I could've slept on a spiked plank.

We almost slept until noon the next day, when some old guy threw a shoe at us and started yelling angrily in French. I didn't speak French at all, but we got the message. No homeless kids sleeping on public benches; it wasn't pretty for the rich people to look at. I wanted to yell back at the man for being a rude sleezeball, but again, I didn't speak French.

So we got up and started waking around the city, discussing ways of how to get to Greece from here.

"We could always just walk it," Rose had suggested.

I had to forced myself not to laugh in her face. "We couldn't last fifteen miles last night without almost passing out. Do you really think we could hike most of Europe, then still have the energy to climb mount Olympus?"

"Well do you have an idea, Negative Ned?"

"How about Realistic Rob. But no, I don't."

"Then we walk, Ned. If we need money, we can just mooch off Sandy's dad."

Now that you know both Rose and I don't exactly have much money, I bet you're wondering how we became friends with a millionaire's daughter. It wasn't much of an interesting story. I've known Sandy since we were four years old. I knew her before her dad got rich from his fishing company. But when they gained a ton of money, Sandy refused to go to a school where we weren't. Even if she could go to school in London or Tokyo, she wanted to be where she knew people. Which was one of the reasons I liked her so much; she was loyal and committed to her friends.

Gods, I missed her so much. Which is why I wasn't happy about having to go on this stupid quest instead of going home. I wanted to talk to Sandy again; at least to tell her we were alright. Rose had said Sandy contacted her in the bathroom, and that she was coming to get us. It just made me a bit jealous that she didn't call me first. What can I say? I was a stupid little kid who didn't realize crushes actually had to go both ways in order to work.

"What day is it?" I asked. "I'm loosing track of how much time we have left."

"It's only the twentieth. We still have a bit more then a month to get to Greece."

We walked around for a while, discussing the fastest ways we could use to get to our destination. We didn't have a lot of options, so after a while we changed topics. Such as what the "gift" was that Apollo talked about, or why it was of so much importance. We talked about various ways to get back to America, but most of them were joking (like riding on the backs of dragons or kidnapping demons and forcing them to teleport us back). It was nice talking casually to Rose again. It's been a while since we could joke around with each other. Actually, it's only been a few days. But so much has changed since the last day of school that it felt like a life time ago.

"I wonder what Nathan is doing right now," Rose said suddenly, cutting into our conversation about riding centaurs back to New Jersey. We hadn't really talked about Nathan since coming to Europe, but I frowned.

"I don't really know. Maybe he's coming with Sandy to find us."

"I hope not."

That caught me off guard. "Why not?"

Rose sighed. "I don't know. I just don't want him to get hurt. It's so crazy over here with all these angry gods and monsters running around. I just don't want him to be pulled down with us, you know?"

I thought I did. If little Ella was put in harms way, or even died because of me... I couldn't stand the thought. "Okay. So maybe he's at home, all comfy cozy, watching TV and waiting for you to come home."

Rose laughed. "That sounds like him. His weird friends are probably over, too. They always come over on Saturdays to watch cartoons."

I smiled, and suddenly our predicament didn't seem so bad. At least our loved ones were safe. We just had to bear the burden of keeping it that way.

We walked through the streets of Calais for a while, looking at the beautiful architecture and majestic buildings. If I really tried and forgot the last couple days, this almost felt like a vacation. I told myself that, when I was older and had a family of my own, I would come back here and actually enjoy myself. It was so beautiful in France, that it was disappointing I couldn't enjoy it. In reality, I haven't been back to Europe since my time there, but I'm really okay with that. You'll understand why later on.

We grabbed a map of the town from some tourist booth, then followed a road we believed would take us out of the city. After about an hour of walking, we stopped for a lunch of granola bars I bought from the vending machine in Scotland. Again, it was so disappointing that we didn't have enough money to buy the gourmet French food.

We walked for much of the day, weaving in and out of buildings and trying to navigate the labyrinth of roads. We talked a while, discussing yet again our plans for the summer and trying to get back a sense of normality. Rose was still dreading Camp Waunakee, which no longer really seemed like a realistic concern. I told her about my wish to go to Sandy's beach house, and my hope that I could go to Comic Con in the coming October. That didn't seem realistic either, mainly because we could die but also because my family didn't have enough money to pay for tickets.

We talked and walked until the sun dipped low in the sky, casting an array of colors across the city. I was thinking about how much Sandy would love this place, and how it would be the perfect place for a date, when the sky went dark. It felt like a perfect day, but obviously Rose and I weren't allowed to have a moment of peace. We were walking through downtown Calais when Rose stepped on something crunchy.

"Wha-?" She looked down, only to discover a slightly crushed apple. Rose picked it up and examined it, and her eyes widened. "Oh, no." The outside of the apple was painted gold, but it wasn't real gold. I took the apple out of her hand and held it up to the light.

"What is it?"

"Oh good, I see you got my present," someone growled from the shadows of a nearby street.

"We should run," Rose whispered. "Now."

"Oh, don't bother," another scratchy voice said from behind us. "There is no where to run, little mice."

I turned just in time to see a man- er... feline- walk out of the shadows on all fours. He mainly had the body of a man, but tufts of golden fur poked out of random places. His nose was pink and oddly shaped on his face. Whiskers popped out from his cheeks and creepy gold eyes stared hungrily at us (Rose is hitting me now saying that not all gold eyes are creepy). The weird lion-man wore an old gold track suit, complete with too-tight running shorts and NIKE sneakers.

The lion-woman was also dressed in similar getup and had the same creepy cat features. She smiled at us, flashing long fangs as she did. I casted a nervous glance at Rose, but she seemed unsure of what was going on, too.

"You're not Eres," Rose said, her voice level and steely.

The lioness winced. "Why would you think that? Is it because of the golden apple? She's not the only one with magical golden apples."

The lion-man frowned. "But, Atalanta. We work for-"

"Hold your tongue!" Atalanta hissed. I had to hold down a laugh. It was literally a cat getting its own tongue. Rose shot me a glance, her eyes cold and level.

"Oh, I see. You're Atlanta and Messenger, right?"

The male lion scoffed. "It's Atalanta and Melanion, little mouse." The way he said 'little mouse' made me think his next meal was rat-alamode. It sent a chill down my spine.

Rose winced, and I knew we were both hoping a name mixup wouldn't be enough for these cats to eat us. "Okay. I'm sorry, Melanion. How can we help you?"

Atalanta laughed, throwing her head back as she let out a low rumble. "Help us? Most heroes don't ask monsters how they can help."

"But you're not monsters," I cut in, suddenly remembering Atalanta's myth. "You're human, just like us. If it wasn't for Aphrodite, you'd still be human."

"But because of Aphrodite, we were lions for a fairly long time. It's that stupid wenches fault we've been walking this earth eternally as kitty cats. Only recently have we been given backs some of our humanity, no thanks to that dreadful love goddess."

Rose sighed. "Fascinating," she said sarcastically. "But we're in a bit of a hurry. So whatever you want, could you mind and make it quick?"

Atalanta seemed taken aback for a moment, then regained her kitty composure. "Right. It seems you two are on your way to Mount Olympus, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, not liking where this was going.

"But we are hungry," Melanion said, baring his fangs and wiping the drool from his face with his track shirt. "So very, very hungry."

"We both seem to be in quite the predicament," Atalanta added. "For you see, we won't let you get to your destination. We are so terribly hungry, but if you help us, then we will let you leave. If not, then you become our next meal."

My heart sank. Being eaten by human-lion chimeras didn't seem like the ideal way to go. "So again we ask, what can we help you with?"

Melanion put on a fake puppy face frown. "It seems our golden apples have been stolen from us. We wish for them to be returned. If you can slay the thief and take back our apples, then we will let you go."

"Who is the thief?" I asked, getting sick of these word games.

"Oh, just an old acquaintance of ours. He used to guard apples fairly similar to these. But ever since his boss fired him and took away his prized apples, he's been desperate to get a few of them back."

I frowned again, very annoyed now. I wasn't good enough at mythology to try and figure out his clues. "Just tell us who it is already."

Atalanta gave an exasperated sigh. "Humans are so impatient these days. Fine; his name is Ladon."

Now Ladon was one name I recognized. I was in a big dragon-loving stage back in fifth grade, so I knew the names of just about every dragon you could think of. And the thought of facing the never-sleeping serpent terrified me.

Rose must have read my expression, because she became rather pale. I don't think I'd ever seen a Pakistani girl become pale, but Rose was ghost white.

Melanion flashed his white fangs. "So you know of our friend," he said to me. "Then you should be the one to find him. He is lurking somewhere in the city. Find him, and we will not harm your friend. But just in case you were thinking of taking off-" Fast as lighting, the lion man pounced and knocked Rose off her feet. Another whack and she was out cold. He grabbed her in his mouth like a cat would do with her young and walked to Atalanta's side. The lioness three Rose's dagger at me and I caught it.

I wanted so badly to fight these lions here and now, but that didn't seem like an option. If they could move fast enough to catch Rose off guard, then I doubted I would be able to get a single cut in. The sight of Rose in Melanion's mouth sickened me, but I nodded.

"I'll find Ladon and get you your stupid apples back. I swear it..." the words seem to come into my head, "I swear it on the river Styx."

Atalanta chuckled. "Ooh, that makes things a bit interesting. Now, run along, little mouse. We usually eat our meals at midnight."

I decided to look in all the gardens in Calais, since Ladon worked in the Garden of the Hesperides during ancient times. I was thankful to find that there weren't many parks or florists in Calais. The only places that looked like promising didn't take long to get to, so I made the rounds rather quickly. The last place I stopped was Feu Lis Jardens botaniques. It was a rather large and old green house, with cracks in the glass walls and vines over growing out the sides. It smelt of sweet flowers and body oder, like someone trying to cover up sweat with perfume. Wooden planks covered up the front door, but I couldn't leave. There was a rather large hole in the glass ceiling that I was sure a dragon could fit through.

I used Rose's dagger to rip off the boards, plank by plank, until I made a hole big enough to climb inside. It was pretty dark, with the only lights coming from the evening moon and a small fire burning at the end of the long greenhouse. On either side of me were dead flowers and plants that were practically petrified from sitting in here for too long. Many plants were overgrown and most of the ground was covered in weeds and grass. This environment wasn't great for me; I had an allergy to pollen and most plants. Rose and Nathan were all about the green-thumbs. I would have given my left leg to have one of them standing beside me, just so I wouldn't have felt so alone going up against a giant dragon.

As I got closer, I realized the fire burning was just the flames that sparked out of Ladon's nose when he breathe. The mere sight of him made my legs quiver. He didn't really look like a dragon. He was more like a giant snake with a dragon's face. The creature didn't have legs but could have easily been twenty feet long and three feet wide. His golden scaled body curled around a limp tree that was being crushed by the monsters weight. I thought of my only weapon and how it would probably shatter if it hit the dragon's scaled.

I didn't notice the three apples sitting on one of the tree's branches until Ladon's eyes already rested on me. Without even a second glance, the dragon opened its mouth and let loose an inferno of flames. I had just enough time to dive behind a nearby plant before the fire singed the bottom of my pants off. The hair on my head and arms sizzled with heat, and sweat poured from my body. The flames stopped and everything went silent again.

I struggled to remember how Heracles defeated Ladon, then realized the bafoon probably beat him up with his bare hands. No, a voice in the back of my mind told me, he got Atlas to kill Ladon for him. Well, that obviously wasn't an option. There had to be another way then being an immortal strongman or a Titan. No one was here to save me or back me up. I had to do this on my own, and I had to win. I had to get those apples back. I had to save Rose.

So I sat there, staring at the bronze blade of my dagger and trying to think of a way to get those apples back. I didn't exactly have nerves of steel, and my insides felt like they were soon going to become my outsides. My whole body shook. The only thing that helped me through was the thought of hugging my mom and Ella again. Of seeing Sandy and, even though he was annoying, Nathan again. Of having another perfect day like today with Rose.

My mind was racing as I tried to figure out a way to kill this monster. I thought back to third grade and listed all the known weaknesses of dragons in my mind. A lot of the stuff I knew may have been made up, but it was all I had. I knew that the underside of a dragon's scales were sensitive, and that the small squishy part on the top of their head was a major weak point. I know most fire breathing dragons usually had crusted spikes that could be broken off with enough force. And I knew that most dragons were fireproof on the outside but flammable on the inside.

I shimmied my body next to the table and towards the dragon's tree. My plan was to get close enough without being seen, and thrust my dagger under a neck scale until the beast died. The thought occurred to me that I didn't have to kill Ladon; that there could be another way to get those apples. After all, dragons were my favorite mythical beasts and it felt wrong to kill one. But I couldn't think of anything else.

I jumped from my table to the next, and a puff of smoke obscured my view for a moment. But now I was close enough that the could that the serpent's tale was in view. It was flicking back and forth, and the rather large and intimidating spikes on the end of it made my skin crawl. The muscles of the beast were so large, a single hit from the tale could rip me in half. I didn't want to imagine the pain of one of those cutting my skin, but the image came into my head anyways. I cringed.

Putting the dagger in my mouth like a pirate, I jumped behind a potted hydrangea and the closest I would dare to go to the spiked tale. A scenario popped into my head of me jumping and the dragon slapping me off him with one swing of his tale. I gulped, but suddenly I knew what to do. I lunged.

With all my strength, I thrusted the dagger downward into the middle of Ladon's take. It dug in so deep, I felt it hit the ground. A prayer was given that the dagger would hold the tale down. The dragon howled, turning its giant head to me. There was no where to run if he blasted me with another flame, so I had to work quickly. I grabbed a nearby scale and pulled as hard as I could. There was a little tug, but the scale didn't come loose. Hot smoke was now steaming out of Ladon's mouth, and I knew he was going to burn me to a crisp at any moment. I had no chose but to climb off the beast and run. Another hot stream of flame streaked past just as I climbed behind a metal table. The table became biting hot on my back and I yelped. I was running out of hairs to burn off.

Now I had lost my advantage over Ladon, and I was running out of energy and options. My muscles clenched and unclenched as my breathing became tagged. The air felt like sulfur and smelt like it, too. This was a loosing battle.

But I now had an idea. Before, I hadn't had time to throw out the crushed apple, and it was now sitting in the pocket of my scorched rain jacket. I took it out and shrugged. Only some of it had been crushed by Rose's foot, so it was mainly intact.

Gathering my nerves, I stood up and held out the painted apple. "Ladon, I have another golden apple for you right here!" I called, trying to sound brave. But my voice was shaky. If I could tell it was just paint, why couldn't Puff the magic Dragon?

Ladon eyed the apple, then tried to come closer, but was held down by his tale. The beast winced. I went closer and put the apple in front of his face. At least my idea was right. I realized how to beat Ladon when I remembered Atalanta's words, "he's been desperate to get a few of them back." Even though I injured Ladon, he's just crazy enough to want my apple, too. I knew what I was about to do was wrong and underhanded, but it was already eleven twenty and I was running out of time.

I put the apple just close enough to Ladon's mouth, and he was so preoccupied staring at the apple that he didn't even try to breath fire at me. So I made my move. I jumped as high as I could and slammed my elbow into the small of Ladon's head. The dragon screeched and shook, but he wouldn't be that easy to beat. It was impossible to knock out the dragon that never slept. I had just stunned the Smaug impersonator for a moment.

So, with the last bit of my strength, I lifted up the scale just below where his scull should end, and I shoved my hand in. It was so incredibly gross at first, with hot liquid all around my hand. Ladon let out one final blast of fire, but I was out of range. Then he exploded in a burst of light and gold sparkles. I was exhausted, torched and covered in dragon blood, but I had won. I grabbed the apples from the tree and headed back to Rose.

I found Atalanta and Melanion in an alleyway off the same street we had met on. The lion-people sat at the end, eating an appetizer of dead rat-ca-bob. Rose was still knocked out, blood streaming down her temple. Her limp body was lying just behind the man eaters. I clenched my fists and walked into the darkness of the street.

Tossing down the apples at their feet, I smiled. I accomplished something that I never would have thought I could, and the pride was still fresh in my veins. "There. Now give me my friend back."

Atalanta chuckled. "I'm slightly impressed you got passed Ladon, but it means nothing. We said we wanted the apples by midnight. You're five minutes too late. It is time we add this rose to our collection."

"Excuse me?"

"Apples are apart of the rose family, and her eyes go perfectly with our apples," Melanion said gleefully. "She's so cute, I could just eat her up!"

I let loose a growl, so deep and low I even scared myself. The lions frowned, but didn't seem taken aback. I was sick of all these loopholes and games. All I wanted was to go home, and right the the only people standing in my way were part cat. I unsheathed the dagger from my pants, putting all the poison I could muster in the glare of my eyes.

"Give me my friend back, before I turn you into cat food," I growled. The lions looked at each other, unsure what to make of me. "Now!"

Finally, Atalanta spoke. "No! You do not tell us what to do! I am the Archadian princess, lady of the Hunt!"

I gave a ruthless smile. "Oh, good. We've already killed a Queen, so a princess should be no problem."

The cats lunged. But it was too late for them. I was so hopped up on adrenaline, I felt unstoppable. With one swing of my blade, Melanion exploded into dust. Another swipe, and Atalanta was gone.

"Three monsters in one night. Must be a personal record," a quiet voice from the shadows said. I ran over to find Rose with her eyes slightly opened. A small smile was on her face. "I think it's safe to say I'm impressed." I helped her to her feet.

"Glad to see you're alive and well," I said as relief spilled through me.

"Only thanks who you. But I think I've had enough of cats to last a lifetime. And no more France, either. But I think it's safe to say, after all you've been through tonight, you can keep the dagger."


	8. Nathan: Our Giant BBQ

NATHAN

Finally. For the past two hours I've been on camp Boarder patrol, but I've been relieved of my duties for the next hour (something about not being able to stay serious. Not my fault they didn't like my potato bomb prank). Danny's gone to take over my shift, so I get to tell my story now. It looks like everyone started off with their name, so I'm Nathan Ahmer Bangash. This is my story.

After we narrowly escaped the canine jaws of death, we climbed onto the sandy shores of the nearby island. My bones ached and I had too many cuts to count. It was hard to breath, but at least we were breathing air and not sea water. The hot sun felt like heaven after all those hours under the cold water. Sand stuck to me all over, and it took me a minute to force myself to sit up.

Danny was already asleep, her face flat down in the hot sand and her snores just barely audible. Chad looked like he was about to fall asleep, too, but the big guy was forcing himself to stay on guard. Sandy looked ready to pass out. Somehow she had replaced her sword with a trident, and she was clinging to the weapon for dear life.

"So..." I said after a long while. "Anyone know where we are?"

"Erythia," Sandy answered. "That's what Tress called it."

"Uvula?"

"Erythia."

"Oh."

We were quite for a moment until Sandy said, "Tress mentioned a guy named Geryon. Anyone know the myth behind him?" We looked at Chad, but he just shook his head.

"My dyslexia makes hard to keep myths straight, so they aren't really my thing."

I nodded, taking out the inhaler that was miraculously still in my pocket. It was amazing what a little medicine in a bottle could do for my breathing.

We all laid there for a while, trying to recover from the seal-dog attack. The only question remained was: who let the dogs out? (Sandy is hitting me for using such a terrible play on words). Eventually, I climbed to my feet and stuck my two daggers into my belt.

"I think it's time we take a look around," I announced. "Anyone willing to come with me?" It took a while, but Chad raised his hand.

"I'll make sure you don't get yourself killed, kid. But Sandy will need to make sure to keep Danny safe while she sleeps. It's a delicate state she's in when she sleeps." He grabbed his sword and stole Danny's shield, and we walked into the thick forest.

Chad led the way, using his sword to cut through thicket and vines. Most of the island was uphill, so it didn't take very long before we were sticky with sweat. I was looking for anything that could help us get to Europe: a boat, other people, an airport, a resort. The usual. But so far all this island seemed to be made of was tropical jungle.

It took some time, but we made it to a clearing. The land seemed to level out in a plateau, and it was covered in long grass. The only residence were rather large cows with bronze-looking fur. They chewed on the grass and paid us no mind. I thought of the myth from the Odyssey with the Cyclops who lived on an island with farm animals. Then I remembered that the cyclops had sheep and not cows, and I felt kind of relieved. I didn't really feel up to facing a giant beast right now.

"I feel like I know this place," Chad said, his face scrunching up as he tried to remember. "The cows seem familiar, but I just can't seem to place them. Maybe that myth with Hermes stealing Apollos magic cattle? I don't know."

I shrugged. "It's alright, man. Let's keep moving." We made our way through the grass and cows, trying to get to the other side of the clearing. A tremor shook the ground and I fell on my butt. As I tried to get up, another tremor rocked the clearing and I fell back down.

"What the Hades?" Chad cursed, his eyes alert and his sword raised. I tried to get to my feet, but Chad held me down. He crouched next to me and peered through the tall grass like a savanna cat. The tremors got larger and were now coming with their own soundtrack of booming thunder. That's when I realized they weren't earthquakes. They were footsteps.

"What kind of thing makes such big steps?" I whispered, but Chad was already in battle mode. He put a finger to his lips and I shut my mouth. We were in a dangerous situation and Chad knew it.

The giant appeared from the side of the clearing that we came from. The trees were just tall enough to obscure him, but in the open he practically put me into cardiac arrest. I had to use my inhaler again just to catch my breath. Geryon wasn't a cyclops; he was much worse. It was hard to make him out since his image was so fuzzy, like his form was covered with form. But I suspected that even the Mist couldn't stop me from seeing this monstrosity.

Geryon had three bodies all attached by on head. He only had two arms, but six legs kept his thirty foot body standing tall. He wore the bronze skin of his cattle as a cloak and their bones as a necklace. He had darker skin and wore his hair and beard in a knotted mess. Even from this far away, the smell of body oder and rotting flesh poured off him. I had to hold back a gag.

"Any ideas out of this? Because I got nothing," Chad said.

"Alright. Because I have a fairly easy plan. Follow me." I turned and began crawling towards the tree line. If I could just make it there without being spotted, then it would be a lot harder for him to catch us.

"What is that stench?" The giant bellowed. I could hear him sniff from all the way over here. Geryon sneezed. "HUMAN? IS THAT YOU HERACLES? ARE YOU BACK FOR MORE OF MY PRIZED COWS?"

Crap. I tried to crawl faster, but ran right into a cow. It mooed and swung its tail at me.

"THERE YOU ARE, HERACLES." A shadow came over me, and I looked up to find a massive hand about to grab me. I didn't have anywhere to go, and the giant lifted me off the ground. His strength practically crushed my ribs, but I managed to keep a straight place. To be honest, this experience is the reason I can't watch Attack on Titan. The show flashes me back to when I was almost Giant food.

An idea crossed my mind just as the monster was about to stuff me in his mouth. Even though his breath was enough to knock me out, I had to keep myself awake. "Woah, woah!" I called. "Do I really look like Heracles to you? What an insult!"

The giant stopped. "So you're... not my nemesis?"

"Of course not! I'm Nathan Rancher! Famous county fair judge! I'm here to inspect your cows and see if their worthy of a blue ribbon. So far, I am unimpressed by your hospitality, or your lack thereof."

Geryon looked fairly confused, then he seemed to understand. "I am so sorry, Mr. Rancher! Please don't punish my cows for my, er... inhospitablity." I had to stop myself from pointing out that 'inhospitablity' wasn't a word. But the tri-bodied monster gingerly put me back on the grass.

I was shaking, but managed to keep my composer. I dusted myself off and slicked my hair back with my hand, trying to look professional. "Now, which cows will I be judging today?"

"Um... how about Bessie VI and Bessie Jr.? They have the silkiest coats." Wow, Bessie was such an original name. I wondered if all of Geryon's cows were named Bessie. Either way, the monster stomped over and picked up two cows, then set them down next to me. I nodded, running my hand through their red fur. I pretended to do some inspections, like measuring the width of the body with my arms or running my hand down the cows tails. Then I shook my head. "No, these will never do. They are too thin and small. I want prize winners. Large bulls with grand horns and muscular bodies. Do you have such bulls?"

Geryon thought for a minute, then nodded. "There is one like that. His name Bess." He left for a minute, then brought back the bull. I really hoped I was giving Chad enough time to either get into the forest or think of a plan out of this.

I inspected Bess while Geryon restrained the angered bull. His horns were so large and shiny, that I figured they could turn me into a Nathan-ca-bob with one hit. But I shook my head. "This is all you have? He's only alright. Maybe a runner-up ribbon. Are you holding back your blue-ribbon cows from me?"

Geryon shook his head, letting his messy hair bounce around. "Bess is best. No other bulls like him."

I sighed and clicked my tongue. "I suppose he will have to do. I will have to report his status to my higher ups, but it seems I don't have any way of travel. Perhaps if I had a boat, or a few drachma for an Iris message?"

Geryon nodded. "No boat. Geryon no leave island. But Geryon have coins." The giant fumbled through a cow-skinned pack on his belt, then tossed down two drachmas. I smiled.

"Thank you. If you win this contest, you will be rewarded this amount ten fold."

This seemed to get Geryon's attention. "Geryon get... money?"

I paused, not sure if I had taken this too far. "Of course. Twenty drachma to the winner of our contest."

The giant clapped with glee, a smile lighting up his rather dirty face. "Geryon not have much money. Geryon call his mommy and grand mommy with coins."

"Sure thing, buddy. I'll just go find a stream to call my employers, then I'll be right back." I pocketed the coins and walked into the woods. As soon as I was in the shade of the trees, I took off running. I ran so fast I forgot how to breath, or that I needed another dose from my inhaler. I ran until I passed Chad, (I'm thankful he was smart enough to start running after me) and I ran all the way to the beach with my friend on my tail.

We made it to the beach, shaking and out of breath. But Sandy and Danny were on the other side of the island. We had to get there and warn them about Geryon. So we ran on the sand at top speed, our wet clothes quickly drying out in the hot sun. This island was too big; after an hour of running we looked no nearer to them then before. The tree line still looked unfamiliar, and I wasn't sure we would ever get back to them.

I had to stop on multiple occasions to catch my breath or use my inhaler. Eventually the angry bellow of a giant rang out through the jungle. My heart practically jumped out of my chest at the sound, but I forced myself to keep running. At this point I was really hoping Danny was awake and took the bellow as a warning to grab her spear. Because I wasn't sure if we would be able to reach them in time.

We kept running until the smoke of a small fire was seen in the distance. As we kept up the pace, I realized Sandy had made an entire makeshift camp with leaves for tents and a cooking fire surrounded by a circle of stones. When we got closer, my heart sank. Most of the stuff in the camp was broken and in shambles. Danny and Sandy were nowhere to be seen.

"Damn," Chad whispered. "He has them."

"Yeah, I see that. Assuming he hasn't already eaten them, we have to find him and get them back." Rose would kill me if I let anything happen to her best friend. And Chad would never forgive himself if Danny died. Suddenly, I felt strong. My back was straight and I felt like I could take on the world. I knew what needed to be done and nothing was going to stop me from getting our friends back.

My grip tightened on the celestial bronze dagger, and even though my lungs were heaving from the run, I was ready. No one had ever taken me hunting, since my grandpa was a pacifist and my dad was never the camping type. But I had seen enough animal shows to know how to follow tracks. There was a fairly obvious clearing of broken trees heading off into the island, and we had our tracks.

"Come on, I think I have another plan."

We found the Giant's home in a cave on the west side of the island. With an entrance as tall as a building and an angle going straight into the earth, it truly was an ominous sight. And with the sun dipping low in the sky now, everything was a hundred times more menacing.

"Remember the plan?" I asked Chad.

"Of course. This better work, Runt."

"Yeah, I know."

I tucked my dagger under my shirt and out of sight. The two of us walked into the cave, our nerves completely on edge. Chad made his way to the walls and in the shadows and we walked at an equal pace deeper and deeper into the shadowy earth.

"Geryon! It's me again; Nathan Rancher! I'm here with your final scores!" I called out. My voice echoed through the inky cave. I continued to call out similar phrases, such as, "My associates and I enjoyed your island very much," and "The judges thought your cows were an 'utter' delight!"

Eventually the flickering light of a fire came into view. I sped up my face, a bit worried at what kind of creatures could be hidden in the darkness. When I reached the light, I realized it was much more then a small blaze. It was a bonfire, tall enough that the flames Licked the ceiling of the cave. Over the large stack of burning wood sat a pot boiling over with bubbles and steam. On the other side of it sat Geryon.

It took my eyes a second to adjust to the bright light, but when I could finally see, the sight horrified me.

The three-bodied giant wore Danny and Allesandra around his neck on a thick rope like a necklace. Sandy was soaked in sweat from being to close to the fire, and all the energy seemed to be out of her as well. Danny was limp against the giant's neck, and I almost feared the worst until she let out a long snore. Leave it to the daughter of the dream god to fall asleep at the most inopportune moment.

"Geryon, my main giant!" I yelled up, putting on a suave attitude and slicking my hair back with my hand. "So glad I finally found you! I kind of got lost on you island, but when I finally got back you were gone!"

Geryon looked around for a moment, trying to find me on the ground. When he finally met my eyes, his face scrunched up in anger. "You took too long. I thought you left me."

"Oh, come on. It's a big island with lots of trees! I would never leave my favorite cattle driver! You weren't mad at me for a little misunderstanding, were you, Big Guy?"

Geryon looked away, a bit embarrassed. "Er... no. Of course not. I'm not mad at Mr. Rancher. Geryon has complete control over his anger."

"Oh good, otherwise I might have to disqualify you."

"D-disquiltify?"

"Disqualify. It means to kick you out of the contest. Which would be a shame considering you won."

"Geryon... won the big prize?"

"Indeed you did, my good sir," I walked around the blazing fire and inched my way over to the giant, hoping that Chad had found his position in the shadows. I looked up at his necklace to see Sandy giving me a quizzical look. Her face was caked with soot and blood, and a long gash ran across her forehead. Danny got the worst of the beating. Her face was swelled and covered in bruises. The orange t-shirt she wore was in tatters on her stomach and pieces of rock poked out of her skin like shrapnel. I hid my horror under a mask of forced surprise. "What is this! Why are our judges hanging around your neck?"

The giant looked away, his dark skin blushing under his dreadlocks. "Geryon was planning on eating them for dinner. I did not realize these were the judges."

I tutted with my tongue and shoot my head. "I don't know, this may disqualify you. You will have to let them go, or else you won't get your prize."

"But... the little people smell of Half-blood. And they attacked Geryon with tiny knife and fork. Are you sure they are your judges."

I tried to think of a believable lie. "Don't you see? The knife and fork are made out of pure bronze! They were part of your prize. But you'll have to let the judges go if you want to keep them."

Geryon shook his head and I grimaced. He was starting to loose trust in me. "I know Celestial Bronze when I see it. It is very bad for monsters. If Geryon eat, with it, then I will cut my tongue and go poof!" He made an exploding motion with his large hands. "They try to hurt Geryon, so in return I put them in my soup. It is only fair."

"You would really eat someone over a misunderstanding?" I asked, struggling to maintain my calm exposure. "You'll be giving up your prize, and a chance to call your mom and grandma like you wanted to."

Geryon debated for a moment, and his hesitation was all we needed. I carefully placed the code words for Chad, "Don't you want your 'utter delights?'"

Geryon let out a horrid cry of anger and pain, his eyes swelling with tears. He stood up, but in doing so slammed his head on the jagged ceiling. Another cry of pain, and I watched as Chad leapt down from the monster's back and rolled next to me, his blood covered sword held tightly in his grip. He hopped up, casting a glance in my direction and shaking his head. The plan worked, but for some reason the monster wasn't dissolving.

The yelling was enough to wake up Danny. Her eyes shot open, but they were pure white. A strange purple aura shimmered around her body, and suddenly the room around us changed. We were no longer in Geryon's cave, but instead on the beach of his island. A man I didn't recognize appeared out of nowhere and stood proudly next to me. He was about seven feet tall, wore greek robes and slung a baseball bat over his back. A hood made from real lion skin covered most of his face.

"Heracles," Geryon mumbled, suddenly terrified. "Wasn't killing Geryon once enough for the mighty hero?"

Heracles laughed. "For you, my old foe? I would come back from the dead for the chance to kill you again. Which I suppose I did!"

I was so confused as to how we got on the beach, or where the mighty Heracles appeared from, or where the hell Chad went, or even why I could still feel the roaring heat from the fire. But I decided to just roll with it.

"I bested you once, Geryon," Heracles continued. "Perhaps if you let the little women go, I will let you live this time around."

Geryon looked horrified, but he let out a sonorous laugh. "No. Geryon has waited many an era for a chance to fight you again, Heracles. And this time, I will win!"

Geryon charged as Heracles raised his sword, and for a brief moment there was a break in the air. I saw Chad standing next to me, not Heracles. The fire was back and we were still inside his cave. Sandy, who had looked limp before, was cutting away at the rope like a wild woman with a rock. And Danny's purple aura was so strong I could barely make out her form. Then the Mist returned and Heracles was back in Chad's place on the beach.

When I was able to realize what was happening, I pulled out my dagger and charged. But it turned out to be unnecessary. The rope snapped and down fell our friends from around the monster's neck. The landed safely with a thud between Geryon's legs and he kept running as though nothing had changed. And just as he was on top of "Heracles" and I, the giant let out the more horrid scream I had ever heard.

The image of the beach was gone, and I watched in horror as the giant burned alive in his own cooking fire. I almost felt bad for the guy, but his death came quickly. Within seconds he exploded in a pile of gold dust. Allesandra and Danny got shakily to their feet and began walking over to us. We met them halfway and let them lean on us.

"Um... what just happened?" I asked.

"Danny has the ability to control the Mist, and she did something pretty similar when we originally fought Geryon on the beach," Sandy explained. "So she can make people see what they want to see."

"Or what they don't," Danny added. "I also have the ability to know exactly what someone's biggest dreams or nightmares are. In this case, I combined them. Geryon's biggest dream was to kill Heracles, but his worst fear was having to face him again."

"Dang. Remind me not to mess with you."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but I can only use my abilities when I'm asleep, which kind of sucks. It leaves me pretty vulnerable."

"Yeah. So we were making an escape plan incase you guys couldn't find us. Danny got the gist of my plan and she slept, but when you guys came Nathan's distraction was exactly what we needed."

I smiled. "It wasn't exactly how I planned this escape to go, but I'm glad it worked out all the same."

"We can talk about this more when we heal you guys up and are a safe distance away from the island," Chad cut in, looking extremely concerned for his girlfriend as she slumped against his shoulder. "You guys need some rest, and who knows how long Geryon will stay dead this time. Could be days, or years. Either way, I really don't want to be here when he wakes up."

I nodded. "I think we can all agree to that. Only thing is, how do we get off this floating Hades?"

"There are tons of trees, and we have swords to chop them down. I'm sure we can make some kind of raft," Danny suggested.

"I think I have a better idea," Sandy cut in, a grin spreading across her face. "It's time to make a call."


	9. Rose: A Town Painted in Green

ROSE

I don't have much time to write this now (have to head out to training in a little bit), but this next part doesn't really have much to tell, anyway. So I'll just write as quick as I can and you try to keep up, okay?

The worst part about being abducted by crazed track-running lions? All the fur that stuck to my clothes. I'm allergic to cat hair, for crying out loud. And now I couldn't get the damned stuff off me. I was sneezing and scratching the whole train ride to Switzerland. My eyes were swelling and I was so stuffy it was hard to breath. But it was okay, because Switzerland has some of the cleanest air in Europe. If any country could clear my sinuses, it was that one.

We wanted to take the train all the way to Greece, but it only went so far. The ride took seven and a half hours, so the two of us had plenty of time to sleep and plan. But when we finally hit the end of the line, we were literally in the middle of nowhere, in some town called Kleinen Wiese. The place was surrounded on all sides by hills and hills of rainbow flowers. In the distance, the Swiss Alps climbed high into the sky. We got off the train and headed for a nearby restroom (Justin had and still has a tiny bladder). We were still fairly far away from Greece. The map said it was about 2500 kilograms or 1500 miles. We still had 24 days to make it there, but I had no idea how. And we were out of Scottish granola bars, unripped clothing and money. I had no idea how we were going to make it to Mount Olympus in one piece. I still didn't know why we were going there in the first place. I didn't know what was at stake or how bad it would be if I just packed up and went home. I was sick of this quest, sick of the gods and sick of monsters showing up at every turn. All I wanted was my old life back.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, looking around at the small town. There were only a few shops, some houses and a sign that read: Bevölkerung- 236 (I learned later that Bevölkerung means 'population' in German). So yeah, the town was extremely tiny.

A single road lead out north, but we needed to go south east. Which meant going through the meadows and eventually the Alps. Fabulous. Because I was so looking forward to climbing the entirety of the Alps and then Mount Olympus in one summer. Ugh.

"What's the game plan?" Justin asked as we sat down outside a small Café. The metal chairs were hard on my butt, but I ignored it. It's not like comfort was any factor on this quest.

"Honestly? I still have no idea. We still need to cross the Alps, then go through six more countries full of monsters and god-knows what else."

"We could always take a helicopter over the Alps."

"Do you really think we have that kind of money, Justin? We have fifty sense left. We only managed tickets for the train ride by bribing your dad! We don't even have enough money for our next meal, much less a helicopter ride."

"What was that?" A waitress asked, popping her head outside the Café. She spoke with a thick German accent, but her English was pretty spot on. "No money for the Americans?"

"Um... yeah. We ran out of money on our backpacking trip," Justin explained.

The girl, who couldn't be older then sixteen, frowned at us, and I had to admit she was breathtakingly pretty. With flowing blonde hair tied in a French braid and startling green eyes, her pleasant face was a much welcomed sight after our other unpleasant monster encounters.

"Keine Sorgen." The girl disappeared into the Cafe, then came out a minute later with two water bottles, two cups of hot tea and two muffins (a banana one for Justin and a pomegranate one for me. How she knew what our favorite types muffins were was beyond me). She placed them on the table. "We do not let guests starve. It is, how you say, on the house."

I looked up. "Guests?"

"Da. Tourists are guests to our town, wouldn't you say? Here, we take good care of out tourists, especially you," she looked at me on the last word, and my stomach turned. Especially me? I eventually figured she was just being polite to put it like that, but it stuck with me.

"Well, danke. It means a lot," Justin said, completely stunned. The girl smiled, nodded and left.

"That was unexpected," I said.

"But much appreciated," Justin added, already stuffing the muffin into his mouth. I did the same, and at that moment I decided Swiss pomegranate muffins are the greatest things in the history of man. I had to stop myself from eating it all in one go. I took a sip of my tea, and it burnt my mouth a bit, but I was still so thankful for the taste. It had been a while since I'd eaten anything but granola bars.

After we finished eating, we debated how hard it would be to steal a helicopter as we moved ourselves away from the Café and under the shade of a cherry blossom tree. I couldn't help but enjoy the sweet smell of the flowers in bloom around us. Flowers were the one thing in the world that could calm me down no matter what was going on. It was almost like they changed my mood to make me happy just by being there. For once, I could think straight without fear blocking my brain from functioning.

"Maybe instead of stealing the helicopter, we just steal the money to get the ride," Justin suggested.

I shook my head. "We aren't stealing anything on this trip, Justin. We'll just have to find another way across the mountains."

"Any ideas?"

"Not a clue."

So we sat under the tree, watching the small population of the town bustle around. It felt nice to relax. Even in Calais I felt tense and alert, thinking that something could pop out at any moment. But for some reason, I felt very safe in this town. Safer then my own town (probably because it wasn't safe in my home town). The cherry tree sat across the way from the Café, so I could watch the few people sitting down for a cup of coffee. Every so often the waitress would come out and watch us, then smile or leave. I saw her inside the Cafe as she picked up the phone and talked. It felt weird to watch her, but something about the girl felt a bit off to me. But also a bit right. It's hard to explain.

She said a few words in the phone, then hung up and casted a quick glance towards us. I found myself actually blushing. Why did she keep looking over here? I took the last bite of my muffin and tucked the wrapper in my pocket.

"Do you wanna spend the night here?" I asked, my stomach hot with the recent deposit of muffin.

Justin frowned. "I would. This place is so beautiful, and the people seem nice enough. But there is a difference between getting a free muffin and getting a free motel room."

I shrugged. "We could always sleep right here. Maybe they will give us some free breakfast, too."

"I doubt it. No place is that charitable."

"I guess not." Out of nowhere, Justin chuckled. "What?"

"Did you know that apples are apart of the rose family?"

"Yeah, I think I heard that somewhere. Why?"

"So... do you have a cousin named Cider? Or a granny named Smith?"

"Oh, ha ha. That's so funny," I said, rolling my eyes. "What brought this about?"

He shrugged. "I was just thinking about our strange apple encounter with the lions. I know you we're knocked out, but they were going to keep you. They said your eyes were perfect for their collection. It just freaked me out, you know?"

A chill ran down my spine. The thought of staying with two allergy-inducing lion hybrids didn't seem ideal. Especially when I thought about what they would do once they got board of me. "I've been meaning to ask you that. How did you manage to get me back?"

"Oh, you know. Just killed a dragon, stole some golden apples and turned the Prince and Princess of Archadia to dust. No big deal, really."

"Dang, boy. Maybe you should be the one leading this quest."

"Who said you were leading? I thought we were co-leading."

"Well, there always has to be a leader."

"Why?"

I blinked, thinking. "Um... I guess I don't know why. That's just how it's done in the movies. Just like Jason lead the Argonauts and Batman leads Robin."

Justine rolling his eyes jokingly. "Then lead away, oh mighty Batman."

"Please, if anything I'm Batwoman. She's way cooler."

"That's fairly debatable."

I let a smile cross my face, then took a deep breath as I smelt the flowers around me. The entire town was surrounded by beautiful flowers, giving the whole place a rainbow effect. The air itself seemed permanently tinted with the fragrance of spring and the gently flutter of pollen. I watched lost petals as they flew around our feet, then shot off to explore the rest of the world.

Over the next hour, more and more people began accumulating in front of the Café, and the more I watched them, the more curious I became. Every person here seemed to have green eyes that almost seemed to glow. They all had light skin with freckles. Most of the population of the town were woman, all with blonde curly hair. The only men we saw all had the same frizzy brown hair. I had never seen so many people in one place with the exact same features. Many of them wore flowers in their hair, and every single one gave quite a few glances in our direction. Maybe they were just confused to see people with completely different coloring then them.

The loud hum of a taxi pulled me out of my people watching. I groaned, considering I was enjoying the silence, and watched the taxi drop a woman off in front of the Café. The woman wore a large golden floppy hat that covered most of her face and a floral sundress. Her sandals were fairly greek looking, with brown laces going up to her ankles. I couldn't see her face, but the outfit stuck with me for the rest of my life. Probably because it was the first time I saw... her.

She took a seat at one of the metal tables and immediately the waitress girl came out to greet her. They talked for a while like old friends, or perhaps mother and daughter. The waitress nudged her head at me, and I looked away quickly. I picked at the grass for a minute, pretending to have not been staring. When I looked back, the woman at the table was staring at me now. From here I could see that she had tanner skin and long, pin straight black hair. We locked eyes for a moment, and something's struck me as very odd about her, though I couldn't place it.

Without a word, she got up and began walking down the street away from us. I looked over at Justin, who was apparently watching me throughout the interaction.

"That was a bit weird," he said.

"You're telling me. I don't know what that was all about, but it gave me chills. Look at my arms! I'm covered in goosebumps!" I said, shoving my arm in his face jokingly. He laughed and pushed my arm away. I smiled, then trailed my eyes back to the Café. "Looks like that woman left something at the table."

Justin followed my gaze, and his smile faltered. In the seat where the woman was, a rather long parcel wrapped in brown paper sat. "She couldn't have gotten far. Let's grab it and bring it to her."

Not having to worry about cars on the rather empty road, we crossed the street and picked up the parcel. It was pretty light for its size, and my eye caught glimpse of an address label. My heart suddenly stopped.

"Rose, are you seeing this?" Justin asked under his breath. I nodded, my throat too swelled to speak.

The package was labeled "To: My Lovely Rose. An early birthday gift for you."

"D-do you think it's for me, or is it just a coincidence that it's my name and my birthday is next week?"

Justin shrugged. His head turned down the single street that made up the entire town. "I don't know, but we can't ask her now. I have no idea where she went."

"Only one way to find out. Let's open it."

"What?" Justin asked, his voice shocked. "What if it isn't for you? You're opening someone else's things. I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"With all the weird stuff that has happened to us so far, I really don't think its crazy to say that this could be for me. If it isn't mine, then we just wrap it up again and bring it inside to the waitress. I'm sure she can give it to the woman."

Justin didn't argue, probably because he realize he couldn't win. I grabbed a piece of the paper and ripped it off. A bright gleam danced off the gold that laid underneath. I tore off the rest of the packaging and my stomach did a little dance.

I honestly didn't care at this point if it was for me or not, I was taking it. What laid before me was solid gold, crafted with the design of vines and a single rose in the middle. A two foot long quiver and a three foot bow already strung. Along with ten arrows inside the quiver, their was a small burlap sack that could fit into my pocket. I turned it over to find found hundred euros in both paper money and coins.

"Happy freaking birthday to me," I whispered under my breath. A rather large smile split across my face as the gold gleamed in my eyes.

Justin shook his head, letting his dark hair swish around his face. "Oh, no. No sir. Now we can't keep this. We are finding that woman and bringing this stuff back to her. This is much to expensive to just assume and take without asking."

With a mind of their own, my fingers rummaged through the coins now spilt onto the table. I rolled my eyes. "Justin, who else would receive Ancient Greek coins and a bow and arrow while on a quest?"

"Greek coins?" I handed him two of the coins and he examined them closely. What I thought were Euros turned out to be these coins called Drachmas.

"It's settled. We are taking this stuff and staying in a nice motel tonight. I don't care what you say, this stuff was meant for us."

Turns out we didn't need the money for a hotel. The woman at the front desk took one look at us and let us sleep their for free. Honestly, I didn't know what this town was up to, but I was completely okay with it. This was the nicest town we'd been to yet, and I certainly wasn't going to say no to a clean bed to sleep in. I hit the bed like a sack of rocks and was in a dead sleep. I slept better then I ever had before. The scent of sunflowers, daisies and lotuses kept me sleeping for what seemed like eternity.

We got up the next day, threw our things back into Justin's backpack, then started getting ready for the day. Just as we were ready to head out the door, a shimmer appeared in the corner of our room. Danny and Sandy came into few, their faces covered in sand and slackened with fatigue.

Justin practically tripped over himself trying to get over to the image. I smiled and waved at my best friend, then at Danny.

"Nice to see your shinning faces again," Sandy said, her voice struggling to stay up beat. She smiled, but I'd known her long enough to spot a fake smile. "How are things with you guys?"

"Great!" Justin jumped in, his mid-puberty voice cracking as he said it a bit too loudly. He cleared his throat and blushed, clearly embarrassed. "Everything is great."

"Yeah, we are already in Sweden."

"Switzerland," my compadre corrected.

I blushed. "Yeah, that. We're going to find our way around the alps then hopefully take a bus or train all the way to Greece."

"How are things for you guys?"

Danny shook her head. "Not the best, I suppose. We are on a deserted island, practically stranded. The boys just left to find some food, but I don't know how long they will take."

"Boys?" I asked.

"Chad and Nathan," Sandy said, confirming my fears. "You remember Chad, don't you? From school field day?"

"Yeah, but why is Nathan with you? Why did you let him come?" I said, my voice shaking as it got louder. The anger came out so quickly, Sandy jumped back in shock.

"He kinda stowed away. But he's fine, really. They left about an hour ago. The island isn't that big, I'm sure he will be back soon."

Justin laid his hand on my shoulder. "See? Nothing to worry about. He has big tough linebacker Chad Marshall at his back. But... how did you guys end up on an island?"

"Long story," Danny said.

Not getting her message, Sandy added, "Yeah! We got on my jet, but the jet crashed. And we thought we were gonna die, but we didn't! We were saved by hot mermen and taken to go meet my mom, who is apparently the Queen of the Sea. I guess that makes me princess of the sea, but whatever. And then we went with some nymphs on the backs of rainbow horses to try to ride to Portugal, but stupid Seal Dogs attacked us and we ended up here! On the island of some guy named Geryon!"

She spoke so fast that I only caught about half of her story, but I did hear the Geryon part.

"Geryon as in three-bodied Giant Geryon? You're telling me my brother went off into the property of a man-eating Giant obsessed with cows?"

Danny's face fell, then she slammed her hand onto her forehead. "For Zeus's sake, I thought that name sounded familiar."

"That doesn't sound good," Justin added.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. But that's not the worst part."

"Oh?"

"Your quest is kind of more crucial then we first thought. See, someone has stolen Pandora's Box. They plan to open it on the 15th of July on Mount Olympus, and if that happens a huge plague will fall over the world, killing millions. We think it has something to do with the old Time Lord Cronus waking up from his Millenia nap. Which obviously isn't good. So, you know, get to Mount Olympus on time and get the box back."

It felt like someone just sucker punched me, knocking all the wind out. I had to catch my breath before talking. "But no pressure or anything."

Sandy nodded, a comforting smile on her face. "Exactly. Think positively and you can't loose!"

"Yeah, please don't loose. For all our sakes," Danny added. "I think Isis is about to cut us off, so we should get going."

"Wait," Justin said. "One more thing to add to the list of troubles we have. Rose and I got a different prophecy then you, and I think you should here it."

"I've never heard of someone getting two prophecies for one quest, but go on."

"The world will sleep in endless death

Unless spring reclaims what it once left.

To find the doom that is unsealed,

Forgotten bonds must now be healed." I recited it, and looked at the shimmering forms of our friends for any sign of an answer.

"Don't know what to tell you, kid. But it looks like we're on separate quests after all. Hold on... It sounds like the guys are coming back now."

The image shook, and I could here a distant rumble of thunder.

"No, that's not them," Sandy said, her voice clamming up. Danny grabbed her sword, just as a booming roar broke through the trees behind them. "Got to go. Sounds like the landowner just woke up."

And the image faded to black.

I turned to Nathan, confused and terrified at what we just witnessed. Sure, I was scared for the safety of Sandy and her new friend. But more importantly, we just found out that this quest was a lot more important then we made it out to be. The lives of millions of people now weighed on our shoulders, and the very thought made me want to faint.

"I guess we better get going."


End file.
